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Colonel Alexander RigbY: 



A Sketch oi His Career akd Connection with Maine as 



PROPRIETOR OF THE PLOUGH PATENT AND PRESIDENT 
OF THE PROVINCE OF LYGONIA. 



BY 
CHARLES EDWARD BANKS, M. D. (Dart), 

Pas>cil A^SL. Surg., U. S. Marine Hospital Service. 



R,'P>i)it from Hir ^^<1i^u• Ffistorical and Genealogical Recorder^ 



1885. 
PRIVATHLV PRINTKI). 




^v 




COLONEL ALEXANDER RIGBY, M.P., 

BARON OF THE EXCHECQUEB. 



From a miniature in the possession of Towneley Rigby Rnovvles, Esq. 
of Fan, Basses-Pyrenees, France. 



Colonel Alexander Rigby 



A Sketch of His Career and Connection with Maine as 






PROPRIETOR OF THE PLOUGH PATENT AND PRESIDENT 
OF THE PROVINCE OF LYGONIA. 



BY 

CHARLES EDWARD BANKS, M. D. (Dart.), 
Passed Assistant Surgeon, U. S. Marine Hospital Service. 




1885. 
PRIVATELY PRINTED. 



F^ 



, \\ -** 



Fifty copies printed^ of in hie h this is No. 




PRESS OF B. THURSTON & COMPANY, 

PORTLAND, ^E. 



Colonel Alexander Rigby: 

A Sketch of his career and connection with Maine as 
Proprietor of the Plough Patent and President of the Province of Lygonia. 



BY CHARLES EDWARD BANKS, M. D. 



I. Alexander Rigbv. 

Great on the bench, great in the saddle, 
That could as well bind o'er, as swaddle. 

Hudihras, L i. 23-24. 

Alexander Rigby, one of the most notable persons in Lan- 
cashire during the civil war, was a man of active, daring, and 
versatile character, who was brought into notice at that crisis. 
He was lawyer, justice of peace, legislator, committee-man, colonel, 
judge of assize, and president of a colony during an active public 
career of less than ten years. He belonged to the Rigby family 
of W'igan, descended from Adam Rigby of that town, and 
Alice Middleton of Leigh ton. Their two sons were — John of 
Wigan (who married a cadet of the Molyneux family of Hawkslcy), 
and Alexander of Burgh (in the township of Duxbury, parish of 
Standish), the ancestor of the Rigbys of that place, a family much 



Colonel Alexander Righy. 



devoted to the Earls of Derby, and on the side of the royalists in 
the civil war. Of the sons of John of Wigan the most notable was 
Alexander (father of the subject of this article) of the same town, who 
seems to have accumulated property in various places, including an 
estate in Goosnargh, called Middleton Hall/ Alexander, whose 
name frequently appears in public documents, married Alice, daugh- 
ter of Leonard Asshawe or Asshal, Esq., of Shaw Hall, an old man- 
sion yet standing between Flixton and Stretford.^ Alexander, his 
eldest son and heir, was born 1594, and received a liberal education, 
probably at the Wigan school, which served as the foundation of his 
legal knowledge, obtained later as a bencher at Gray's Inn, to which 
he was admitted i November, 16 10. 

Rigby became connected with several families of consequence 
in the two counties of Lancaster and Cheshire. About 161 9 he 
married Lucy, second daughter of Sir Urian Legh of Adlington, 
Cheshire; and when that knight died in 1627 the herald recorded at 
the funeral on 6 July that four children were the issue of the mar- 
riage, viz.: Alexander, Urian, Edward, and Lucy.^ Alexander was 
born in 161 9. Urian was baptized at Eccleston, where Adam 

1 Middleton Hall is a solitary farm in the township of Goosnargh, situate about seven to eight 
miles north of Preston, about three miles east of the Preston and Lancaster turnpike-road, and about 
a mile northwest from Goosnargh church. The history of this place is told in Fishwick's Goosnargh, 
pp. 141 seq. The present hall is a most substantial structure of brick and stone, built probably 
about the end of the last or beginning of the present century. It is more pretentious than the ordi- 
nary farm-house of the neighborhood, but lacks that ornamentation of grounds which it deserves, 
and may at one time have possessed. The oldest part of the existing premises is the barn, which is 
a century or more older than the present house, and has the reputation of containing as many loop- 
holes for ventilation as there are days in the year, a spot very unlike the abode of an iron-heeled 
warrior, a prating politician, and a grabbing lawyer of the days of the Commonwealth. — Palatine 
Note Book, III, 19S. 

2 His will, as Alex. Rigby de Wigan, is dated ii April, 1621, and it was proved 26 April, 1632. 
The testator directs his body to be buried in the parish church of Wigan ; and he leaves his son 
Alexander his heir. 

^ Funeral Certificates, 126. 



Colonel Alexander Righy. 



Rigby his uncle was beneficed, 2 Feb. 162 1-2; and Edward was 
baptized at Preston 15 April, 1627. 

Shortly before the civil war Alexander Rigby was living in the 
neighborhood of Rigby, or Ribby, a hamlet in the parish of Kirk- 
ham, where he had property; and as one of the "sworn men" of 
that town, he took part in parochial matters, but no events of im- 
portance in his career are worthy of record until later, when he 
came into public notice on the calling of the Short Parliament, 
when he was returned for Wigan, April, 1640, being styled an 
Esquire "of Rigby in Amounderness." His colleague was Orlando 
Bridgeman, son of the Bishop of Chester."* There were then 293 
burgesses on the roll, and a keen contest took place on Monday, 26 
Oct.; 112 votes were polled for Bridgeman, 104 for Rigby, and 
72 for Mr. Robert Gardner.'^ Parliament met on 3 November; 
and the member for Wigan was not long in coming to the front. 
On 10 November he declared in the house that a letter had been 
discovered in which the Roman Catholics were required to fast for 
the support of the queen's "pious intentions," viz., that her husband 
might return safely from the war with the Scots.^ On the 1 7th he 
was one of a committee to inquire into a monopoly. On i Decem- 
ber he was added to the committee for recusants. Two days later 
he was placed on the committee to take into consideration the peti- 
tions of Prynne, Burton, etc.; Calvin Bruen and Peter Leigh and 

Golborne of Chester; and to consider the abuses in the High 

Commission Courts of Canterbury and York in connection with the 
visit of Prynne to Chester, and the punishment of his sympathizers 
in that city. On 16 December Rigby was one of the committee 

* These two lawyers were likewise candidates for the same Ijorough on the summoning of the 
Long Parliament. 
' Sinclair, History of Wigan, i. 22G. « Gardiner, F'all of the Monarchy of Charles First, ii. 19. 



6 Colonel Alexander Righy. 

who prepared the votes on the Canons of the Convocation of 1640; 
and on the following day he was put on another committee to 
inquire into some abuses in Emmanuel College, Cambridge. He 
was indeed one of the most active of the committee-men. 

His reputation with his party was raised by his action in the de- 
bate concerning the Lord Keeper Finch, who was chiefly obnoxious 
on account of the support he had given to ship-money. On 21 De- 
cember the House, at Finch's request, gave leave that he should be 
heard. The occasion was memorable. A chair (the Journals, vol. 
ij. page 55, tell us) was set for him to make use of if he pleased, and 
a stool to lay the purse upon a little on this side the bar, on the left 
hand as you come in. He himself brought in the purse and laid it 
on the chair, but would not sit down himself nor put on his hat, 
though he was moved to it by Mr. Speaker, but spake all the while 
bareheaded and standing; the sergeant-at-arms standing by him, 
with the mace on his shoulder. He pleaded eloquently for his life 
and fortune. " I do profess in the presence of him who knoweth all 
hearts, that I had rather go from door to door and crave Da obolum 
Belizario, etc., with the good opinion of this assembly, than live and 
enjoy all honour and fortune under your displeasure." When Finch 
retired Rigby rose, and made a speech which showed his readiness 
in debate. " Had not this syren," he said, "so sweet a tongue, surely 
he could never have effected so much mischief to this kingdom." 
Touching mercy, for which Finch had pleaded, the speaker argued 
that there was a cruel mercy. "The spirit of God said. Be not pit- 
iful in judgme7it ; nay, it saith. Be not pitiful of the poor in judg- 
ment. If not of the poor, then, a latiori, not of the rich; there 's the 
emphasis. We see by the set and solemn appointments of our 
Courts of Justice what provision the wisdom of our Ancestors hath 
made for the preservation, honour, and esteem of Justice: Witness 



Colonel Alexander R'ujhy. 



our frequent Terms, Sessions, and Assizes; and in what pomp and 
state the Judges in their Circuits, by the Sheriffs, Knights, and 
Justices and all the country, are attended, — ofttimes for the hanging 
of a poor Thief for the stealing of a hog or sheep — nay, in some 
cases for the stealing of a peny, and Justice, too, in terrorcm. And 
now shall not some of them be hanged that have robbed us of all 
our propriety [property], and shear'd us at once of all our Sheep, 
and all we have away, and would have made us all indeed poor Bel- 
izarios — to have begged for Half-penies, when they would not have 
left us one peny that we could have called our own? " ' The feeling 
roused by these and other speeches was so strong that Finch 
thought it prudent the same day to quit the woolsack, surrender the 
seal, and embark for Holland. 

Rigby's speech was widely dispersed in manuscript, and it is now 
found in many collections.^ 

The zealous Wigan member frequently traveled between Lanca- 
shire and London, and being a man of marvelous activity, he some- 
times seems to have been in both places at once. It is, perhaps, as 
a justice of peace that at Wigan he attached his signature to some 
"orders" made 23 November, 1 641, by Lord Strange and his deputy- 
lieutenants and the justices in reference to the trained bands and 
their ammunition.^ The name of " Mr. Alexander Rigby, of Pres- 
ton," was on 24 March, 164 1-2, added by parliament to the list of 
the deputy-lieutenants of Lancashire, along with Sir George Booth, 
Mr. John Moore (M. P. for Liverpool, whose wife was a Rigby), and 
Sir Thomas Stanley.'" At this time Rigby had sufficient influence 

^ Rushworth, Collections, iii (i), 129. 

» Flarl. MSS. 813, 7,162; Lansd., 493; Lord Lcconficld's lib., V'l. Rept. /fiif. MSS., 306 b. It 
was twice printed in 1641 (4to, no place). 

• Farington Papers, 75. ^'^ Journals, House of Commons, ii. 495 ; Civil War Tracts, 2. 



Colonel Alexander Righy. 



to cause the removal of Lord Strange as Lord Lieutenant of Lan- 
cashire, and to have Lord Wharton appointed in his place/^ 

On 9 June, 1642, Rigby was sent to Lancashire with three other 
members, viz., Mr. Ralph" Ashton (M. P. for the county), Mr. Rich- 
ard Shuttleworth (Clitheroe), and Mr. John Moore, all deputy-lieu- 
tenants, to see the ordinance of the militia put in execution in the 
county. The lawyer himself was appointed to draw up the instruc- 
tions for the Commissioners.^^ 

When Rigby and Shuttleworth arrived in Lancashire they 
learned that the High Sheriff, Sir John Girllngton, had summoned 
a meeting on Preston Moor, on 20 June, to hear the king's answer 
to the Lancashire petition, and two other declarations ; and on their 
way to Preston they dissuaded persons from going thither. Lord 
Strange and his adherents and about 5000 persons assembled on 
the moor. Rigby and his friends urged the sheriff to forbear read- 
ing the documents. Some wrangling ensued, and the assembly was 
gathered into two groups ; and when those for the king had left, 
Rigby read the parliamentary declarations to those that remained. 
Rigby surveyed the crowds with a keen eye, and he wrote a letter 
to the speaker from Preston, with a postscript dated Manchester, 
24 June, 1642, describing the circumstances and giving the names 
of the local gentry, chiefly his neighbors, who were most active in 
encouraging the sheriff. He was back again in his own neighbor- 
hood directly after, whence he was summoned in haste to meet the 
rest of the committee at Manchester on Monday, 4 July. His reply, 
stating that he would come, was seized by Sir Gilbert Houghton at 
Walton, who on Sunday sent for Rigby. On Rigby's arrival 
Houghton told him he had a commission from the king to break 
open all such letters. " Master Rigby asked him if he had taken 

1 Memoir of James, Ear] of Derby, Ixxiv. ^^ Journals, House of Commons, ii. 619. 



Colonel Alexander li'ifjhy. 



the Protestation, and he told him he had. Then he demanded the 
letter of him in the name of all the Commons of England ; and 
further told him if he broke it open, it might be he might be the 
first man that should be made an exami)]c in Lancashire. And 
then he delivered him his letter unbroken up, and intreated him to 
stay and dine with him, which he did." Rigby attended the meet- 
ing at Manchester as arranged, and remained in the town several 
days assisting in training the militia; and then he dropped out of 
notice for a time in Lancashire. His name does not occur in con- 
nection with the defence of Manchester when besieged l)y Lord 
Strange at the end of September. He left his Lancashire col- 
leagues, indeed, to advance their cause in the House of Commons, 
putting aside his ar}?ia and donning his ^o^a. 

For several months Rigby was unremitting in his attention to 
public business; and it is to be inferred from the important matters 
committed to his care, as well as to the prominence given to his 
name, that he was one of the most trusted members of the House. 
He was an important member of the Committee, appointed 29 Sept., 
1642, for enlisting and maintaining 1000 " dragooners" for service 
in Lancashire, and other Lancashire members were associated with 
him. This body of men was raised in a month, and sent to Lanca- 
shire under Seaton 's command. On the 10 October news of the 7th 
and .Sth was brought from Manchester to the house about the siege 
of Manchester and the flight of Lord Derby to his house at Lathom. 
The same letter said " that the Milnes of the Town belonging to the 
Free School were in lease to one Prestwich a Malicrnant ; that his 
Lease was ready to expire; and that the feoffees were ALalignants." 
Thereupon Mr. Rigby and Mr. White were appointed to i)repare an 
order concerning the sequestration of the Rents and revenues of the 
School, which were subsequently sequestered into the hands of Rd. 



10 Colonel Alexander Righy. 

Holland and Peter Egerton to be employed for the use of the 
School.'^ 

The author of the Discourse of the Warr in Lancashire, Major 
Edward Robinson, who himself served under Rigby, states (page lo) 
that after the siege of Manchester was raised colonels were ap- 
pointed for every hundred in the county, and that Alexander Rigby 
was appointed for Leyland and Amounderness, and Mr. Moore and 
Peter Egerton for West Derby. Our lawyer-colonel was subse- 
quently made one of the commissioners for executing martial law. 

On I April, 1643, by ordinance of Parliament, Rigby became a 
member of the Lancashire Committee for sequestrating " notorious 
Delinquent's Estates." His associates were Shuttleworth, Moore, 
and Egerton.^* Mrs. Werden, of Farrington, addressed this com- 
mittee about preserving some of the heirlooms of her house, the 
property having been sequestered. Rigby 's answer, dated 30 October, 
1643, is preserved, and illustrates his stern character.^^ On i May, 
1643, he was appointed a commissioner for levying money for the 
relief of the commonwealth, by taxing such as had not at all con- 
tributed, or contributed according to their ability .^"^ Another ordi- 
nance created him a member of a committee for providing money 
for the maintenance of the army raised by Parliament and other 
great affairs, by a weekly assessment, beginning 3 August, 1643, o^ 
which the share of Lancashire was ^500 per month.^^ 

Before midsummer of this year, " Mr. Alexander Rigbie, of Pres- 
ton, lawier, a Parliament man, came down into the Country with 
Commission from the Parliament to be Colonell, to raise Forces, to 
put the Hundreds of Laylond and Amonderness into a posture of 

1^ Journals, House of Commons, ii, 806. 

1* Husband, Collections, 13; Civil War Tracts, 90. ^^ Farington Papers, 96, 98, 99. 

1^ Husband, Collections, 169. i' Ibid, 4, 5, 9. 



Colonel Alexander Bifjhy. 11 

Warr, which he was diligent to do within a little tyme." "And be- 
fore July Colonell Rigbie began to shew himself to bee a warrior," 
continues the narrator, who accompanied the expedition ; " for hee 
undertook the reducing of Sir John Girlington's castle at Thurlum 
[Thurland, near Tunstall, Lancashire, the King's last remaining 
stronghold in those parts], in which was Sir John, his wiffe, and 
many dcsperat Caviliers, having strongly fortified it with provision 
out of the country, as alsoe Ammunition. The Colonell, for this 
undertaking, had forces from Salford and Blackburne Mundreds, 
having companies newly raised within Preston, and some peeces of 
Ordenance. He about the begining of August marched his armie 
thither, setting them downe about it. The maine body of his foote 
or his mayne guard was at the house of Mr. Cansfield, about half a 
mile from the Castle. It was moited [moated] about so that it 
could not be come to. He planted his Ordenance on the East side 
of the Castle, in a very fair plot betwixt Cansfield and it. They 
plaied oft against it with litle execution. It was strong. . . . The 
Colonell himself did lye at Hornby Castle, and came every day to 
the leagers. ... At last they had a strong allarum out of Cumber- 
land [28 Sept., 1643], fo'* Colonel Huddleston of Millame Castle 
[with Roger Kirby and Alexander Rigby de Burgh at the head of 
the Lancashire royalists] had raised forces, and was marching to 
raise the siege. But Colonell Rigbie, having intelligence of their 
marching against him, thought it not the saffest way to let them 
come upon him, but rather to prevent them and meet them on their 
way, and to that end drew from the Leguer as many forces as could 
be spared of keeping the castle in. y\nd with the rest marched to 
meet the Enimie as far as Daulton [in Furness]. And there en- 
countiring with them God was pleased to give him the better soe 
that the enemy fled [i Oct.]. And in the pursuit Col. Huddleston 



12 Colonel Alexander Bighy. 

himself was taken with some others of quality, and four or five en- 
signes or cullers of brave silk were taken with some [400] common 
souldiers. Then the Col. returned Victor to the Leao-uer aeaine 
with his enimie his prisoner. . . . Within a short space the Castle 
was yealdid up. . . . Colonell Rigbie returned to Preston in 
Triumph. Thus he being much heartened and encouraged by this 
Victory and delivery of the Castle that he laboured much to putt 
the country in a posture of Warr making choyse of such men to be 
Captaines under him [in Amounderness and Leyland] as he did 
especially confide in. . . . In Gosnarg Mr. Alexander Rigbie, the 
Colonell's son, was Lieutenant Colonell under his Father, and raised 
a Companie within Goosnarg." ^^ 

Thurland was besieged seven weeks. From Preston, 17 Oct., 
1643, Col. Rigby wrote to Lenthall, the speaker, giving a relation 
of the campaign, w^ience we learn that the battle was fought on 
Sunday. The writer says that his men began their work with pub- 
lic prayers; "and those done we speeded up to the Enemy with such 
Resolution and Courage, in all the Captains and Common Soldiers, 
as by their deportment I might have rather deemed that they had 
made haste to have saluted their friends than to have encountered 
their Enemies." ^^ 

Colonel Rigby interested himself in the settlement of ministers 
in his county in the room of those who had been displaced. He 
seems to have favored Independent ministers. On 19 October, 1643, 
the Rev. Isaac Ambrose, the well-known minister of Preston, thus 
wrote to the Rev. Elkanah Wales, then minister of Pudsey, near 

^^ Robinson, Discourse of the Warr, 40. 

'3 West's Furness, 410, pp. lij.-liij.; Civil War Tracts, 148-151 ; Baines' History of Lancashire, 
new edition, i. 221. Whitelock (i. 226) says that "the feat was more discoursed about, because 
Rigby was a lawyer." 



Colonel Alexander Rujhij. 13 

Leeds, on this subject: — "Our Colonel Rigby hath enjoined me to 
write to you a call unto these needful barren p'ts; and his desire is 
that you would j^lease to settle yourself at Rufford. It is a place 
where his son-in-law [Robert Hesketh, of Rufford, Esq.,] and 
daughter [Lucy] are like to reside, and, therefore, he hath an 
especial respect to it.""" He is pleased to allow you fifty pounds 
per annum. For Tockholes if you can provide another able honest 
minister he will (so that he may obtain you) allow him as much 
there. Her father desired it that you would speak to some other 
honest ministers (to the number of six at least) to come into 

^ An indenture dated 9 Nov., 1641, relates to this marriage of Lucy Rigby and Roljcrt Hesketh. 
The parties were Robert Hesketh of Holmes Wood, Esq., and Margaret (nie Standish) his wife, 
and Robert Hesketh, son and heir-apparent of the said Robert Hesketh, on the first part ; and Ralph 
Standish of Standish, Esq., Thomas Tyldesley of Myerscough, Esq., Alexander Rigby of Rigby, 
Esq., and Alexander Rigby, gentleman, son and heir-apparent of the said Alexander on the other 
part. The indenture witnessed that in consideration of a marriage to be had between the said 
Robert Hesketh the son, and Lucy Rigby, only daughter of the said Alexander Rigby, the father, 
and for £yx) paid by the said Alexander Rigby the father to Thomas Hesketh of Rufford, Esq., 
and Jane («^e Edmondson) his wife, and for /"looo paid by the said Alexander Rigby the father to 
the said Robert Hesketh the father, that the said Robert Hesketh the father and Robert the son 
agree that within eighteen months after the said Robert the son shall be twenty-one years of age. he 
shall by fine, &c., convey to the said Ralph Standish, Thomas Tyldesley, Alexander Rigby the 
father, and Alexander the son, all the manor of Rufforth, Marksiinc, Harwuod, &c., &c., to the said 
Thomas Hesketh and his heirs. 

About the same time great endeavours were made to make a jointure for Lucy Rigby. and the 
family were advised that it could not be done excejJt by Act of Parliament. The elder Kigby en- 
deavored therefore to obtain the Act, and brought a bill into Parliament for that purpose, but the 
death in 1646 of Thomas Hesketh before named, heir to the estate, put an end to the design ; and 
not long after Col. Rigby himself died. The inheritance of the Rufford estate subsequently came to 
the children of Lucy Rigby, who afterwards married John Molineux, son and heir of Sir Fr.mcis 
Molineux, of Tevcrshall, near Mansfield, county Notts. In 1661, she. as Lucy Molineux. and her 
.son Thomas Hesketh, infant, petitioned Charles H. for a writ to the judges at the next Lanca.ster 
a.ssizcs to permit a recovery of part of the estates of Thomas Hesketh, to be settled as jointure on 
Lucy Molineux, according to former indentures with her father. Alex. Rigby, but her husband died 
before completion of the same. The matter was referred to the attorney general, who reported in 
favor of the petition. 



14 Colonel Alexander Righy. 

these parts, and they shall have a suitable competency to their 
deserts." ^^ 

Episcopalianism and Presbyterianism were alike distasteful to 
Col. Rigby's views of churchmanship; and in regard to the former, 
a disgraceful charge was brought against him which it is to be 
feared is too true. "One Rigby, a scoundrel of the very dregs of 
the parliament rebels, did at that time expose these venerable per- 
sons [some of the Heads of the University of Cambridge] to sale 
and would actually have sold them for slaves if any one would have 
bouo^ht them." 

Toward the end of the year 1642, Col. Rigby was residing with 
his family at Preston, of which he and his sons, as we have seen, 
were in-burgesses; and he was often styled "of Preston." Major 
Robinson says, under date of 1643, tl"^3.t "his court of guard was 
kept in Preston in the Toy so-called, Mr. Robert Blundell's house, 
Rowland Gaskell, Marshall, it having at that time [26 May] above 
50 prisoners within it." ^^ He was at Preston about Christmas, 
1643, when some of the king's ships, anchoring off Liverpool, put 
the country in fear. Hereupon Rigby mustered troops at Preston 
in case they were wanted at Liverpool; and many of the soldiers 
volunteering to accompany their colonel, they marched to the latter 
town with some enthusiasm on Christmas eve by way of Wigan, 
having first been "heartened" by a sermon."^ 

21 Halley, Lancashire II. 503; comp., History of Garstang, 164. In 1643 Alexander R'gby de 
Ritrgh was named one of the committee for the punishment of scandalous clergymen in Lancashire 
(Husband, Collections^ fo. p. 131): but there is little doubt that the parliamentary colonel is meant, 
as he is associated with his usual Lancashire colleagues; and the de Burgh Rigby, discharged from, 
the Commission of the Peace 24 Oct., 1642, was a Royalist. Nicholas Rigby of the Harrock family 
was also on the same committee. Life of Berwick, p. 42; V^s^V&r^s Suffer i tigs, i, 58; Notes and 
Queries, i S. ij. 253 ; Dugdale's Short View, p. 577; Querela Cantab, p. 184. 

^^ Robinson, Discourse of the Warr, 49. '^^ Ibid, 45. 



Colonel Alexander It if/by. 15 

Rigby's reputation as a military commander was lost at Lathom 
House, the mansion of the Earl of Derby, which his loyal countess 
had secretly garrisoned and heroically and successfully defended 
with 300 soldiers. With her were Capt. Chisenall (who married 
one of the Lay ton Rigbys), author of the Catholike History; Capt. 
Rawstorne, William Farrington, Esq., the Rev. Mr. Rutter, and 
Edward Rigby, impropriator of the Rectory of Brindle, and others, 
who 

raised midst sap and siege 



The banners of their rightful liege 

At their she-captain's call ; 
Who, miracle of woman-kind. 
Lent mettle to the meanest hind 

That mann'd her castle wall ! 

The siege lasted about eighteen weeks, and the Fairfaxes, Cols. 
Rigby, Ashton, Moore, Holcroft, Egerton, and others, took part in 
it. The undertaking was very costly; much ammunition was 
wasted, and the loss of life was large. The investment of the 
house was brought about by Sir Thomas Fairfax, who, after recov- 
ering Cheshire for the Parliament by his victory at Nantwich, pro- 
posed (15 Feb., 1643-4) to the deputy-lieutenants, colonels, and other 
gentlemen of Lancashire, that, in regard to the late outrages by the 
Lathom garrison, "some course be thought of to prevent further 
mischiefs and secure the well-affected in those parts." ^* Accord- 
ingly, at a council of "the Holy State," at Manchester, on 24 Feb., 
it was resolved that " Mr. Ashton of Midlcton, Mr. Moore of Hanck- 
hall, and Mr. Rigby of Preston, 3 parliament colonels," should go 
against Lathom. Their army was chiefly made up of relays taken 
out of Leyland and Amounderness. On the 27th Fairfax estab- 
lished his quarters at New Park, near Lathom House; '■^' and on the 

'" Fairfax Correspondence, III. 77. '"' Ibid, III. 85. 



16 .Colonel Alexander Righy. 

following day the countess was asked to surrender. She delayed 
compliance, and negotiations took place, Ashton and Rigby being 
admitted into the house on 2 March to discuss terms with her lady- 
ship, but with no result. 

In the meanwhile Rigby 's wife died, and was buried at Preston 
on 5 March. In the same week Fairfax, leaving the operations in 
the hands of his cousin, Sir William Fairfax, with Ashton and 
Rigby under him, was called away into Yorkshire,^'^ glad to leave an 
employment where no glory was to be gained. Sir William began 
hostilities on the 6th. On the 12th there was a sally, and sixty of 
the besiegers were killed. Rigby, who was, says the Journal of the 
Siege, restless in his malice against Lady Derby, urged Colonel 
Egerton to put a line of circumvallation round the house, and soon 
after took occasion to accuse him of neglect and indolence; and Sir 
William Fairfax having left, Rigby was commissioned to be com- 
mander-in-chief. "To give him [Rigby] his due," says Seacome, 
"though a rebel, he was neither wanting in care or diligence to dis- 
tress the house. He denied a pass to three sick gentlemen to go 
out of the house, and would not suffer a midwife to go in to a gen- 
tlewoman in travail, nor a little milk for the support of young infants, 
but was every way severe and rude beyond the barbarity of a Turkish 
general." Rigby's quarters were constantly at Ormskirk, and he came 
daily to the leaguer. On 20 March a letter from the Earl of Derby 
was sent into the house by a messenger, " one Jackson, a sawcy and 
zealous chaplain to Mr. Rigby." ^' On 5 April, Ashton and Moore, 
by a letter dated from Ormskirk, urged all ministers and parsons in 
Lancashire to pray for success in the siege. On 12 April there was 
another successful sally, when the batteries of the besiegers were 
destroyed. On the 25th a furious summons was sent to Lady Derby, 

26 Markham, Life of Sir William Fairfax, 133. 27 Journal (1S23) 33. J 



Colonel Alexander Righy. 17 

who, calling the drum into her presence, and tearing his message into 
pieces, threatened to hang him up at the gates, saying, "Tell that in 
Solent rebel, Rigby, he shall neither have person, goods, nor house!" 
On the following day there was a sally, and a large mortar was cap- 
tured. The condition of affairs on i May is revealed by a letter of 
Colonel Rigby 's, dated from Ormskirk, addressed to the deputy-lieu- 
tenants of Lancashire, and preserved in the Fairfax correspondence.^ 
Rigby urges his need of assistance, and says he was "enforced to 
borrow great and considerable sums of money, both upon my word 
and bond, for the public use." "W'c have had many nights together 
alarms, and beaten them into the house six or seven times in a night, 
and by these alarms and great numbers in the house, and by our 
losses, my soldiers have been enforced to watch and stand upon the 
guard in the trenches for two nights together, and others two nights 
in four, in both which kind my son hath performed his duties as the 
meanest captain; and for myself I almost languish under the bur- 
den, having toiled above my strength. The length of the siege and 
the hard duties have wearied out all the soldiers; many have 
departed without licence, many of the volunteers of Leyland and 
Amounderness (though called) have forborne to come to my aid; 
and divers of Col. Moor's soldiers here with me have refused to do 
duties in times of necessity; and want of pay was their pretence." 
The colonel finally hints at "waiving" the work, unless he was 
assisted. On the matter of money, here introduced, the author of 
ihii Journal of /he Siege ^Tiys, ih-^i when the besiegers would have 
mutinied, Rigby quickened them "with some small pittance of their 
pay, declaring it had cost him /"2000, who was never knowiie to bee 
worthe one till hee became a publike robber by law; but you must 
remember that hee had been a lawyer, and a bad one." Meanwhile 

* I'airfax Currcspondcncc, III. 91. 



18 Colonel Alexander Righy. 

no help arrived to the besiegers, and the garrison was less harassed. 
Rigby's name, as one of the committee at Manchester, is at the head 
of a list of seven others, who from that town, on i6 May, wrote to 
the Earl of Denbigh in reply to his requests for assistance. The 
committee say that the "siege at Lathom House, having a desperate 
and too well provided enemy within, continues still not to be broken 
up, unless we will resolve to begin the whole work anew. The Earl 
of Derby in Wirrall and that part of Cheshire, even all along the 
river over against us, is very potent, — makes inroads upon us, and 
keeps us in continual alarms. . . . We make bould further to give 
intimation to your Lo'pp that wee feare wee have armed divers 
amongst us who are enlisted in severall companies whom (if we 
should remove our old tryed souldiers out of the county) we durst 
not trust either in our garrisons, siege, or confines, especially if the 
Erie of Darbie should appeare amongt us." ^'^ On 23 May, Capt. 
Mosley took in a last summons from Cols. Holland and Rigby. 
But the approach of Prince Rupert and the Earl of Derby broke up 
the siege. On 25 May this relieving army crossed into Lancashire 
at Stockport, and thereupon the Colonels before Lathom dispersed. 
Holland returned to Manchester, Moore to Liverpool; and on the 
27th Rigby drew up his army of 2000 or 3000, and marched to 
Eccleston Green, where he halted, irresolute which way to retreat. 
He would have gone to Manchester, had Rupert not been in the 
way. At last he decided for Bolton. The author of the Discourse 
(page 49) says that Rigby in this emergency was in great fear for 
his family at Preston, and that he sent them word to pack up his 
goods and flee into Yorkshire, which they did. Meanwhile Prince 
Rupert and Lord Derby, passing over the Mersey near Sir Cecil 
Trafford's house, and avoiding Manchester, successfully attacked 

2^ Memoir of James, Earl of Derby, civ. cv. 



Colonel Alexander B'lcjhy. 19 

Bolton on 28 May, when, it was computed, 1200 of its defenders 
were slain, a large number of them being Colonel Rigby's sol- 
diers belonging to Amounderness. The colonel himself narrowly 
escaped. He was on horseback, and in the nic/cc he thrust himself 
among the enemy, and having learned their watchword, just about 
the time when Prince Rupert's horsemen were entering the town, 
he put spurs to his horse, "springs up before them, like a resolute 
commander, calls them up, saying, 'March on! the town is our 
own!' and so riding and bestirring himself amongst them, there 
was no notice taken on him; but when he saw a fit time for him 
he tooke it, and with one man went his way towards Yorkshire." "" 
Such was the termination of the Lathom campaign. The cavalier 
Blundell heard the Countess of Derby say that year that "since 
miracles ceased in the church she thought there had not been a 
more wonderful thing than the preservation of Lathom House. It 
was then newly relieved from a long siege, in which her ladyship 
made a most noble resistance." ^^ 

After this disaster we lose sight of Rigby for a time, during which 
he, or his son, joined Sir Wm. Waller in the west, with Sir W'm. 
Brereton.''^ We again meet with the colonel in London, where his 
former activity as a legislator was not forgotten. On 12 Julv, 1644, 
tlic I louse of- Commons referred it to the Committee of Sequestra- 
tors of Middlesex, London, and Westminster to provide a conven- 
ient house for Col. Alexander Rigby and his family.''"'' In his straits 
at Lathom the colonel, amongst other liabilities, had become bond 
foi* /^300 for powder taken up in Warrington, and on 24 September 
the House of Commons ordered the deputy-lieutenants to pay that 
sum t(j him out of the first moneys coming in." We frequently 

'^ Robinson, Discourse of the Warr, 52. " Hlundell, Cavalier's Note Book, 295. 
*- Whiteiocke, I. 268. *' Journals, House of Commons, III. 559. ** Ibid. 



20 Colonel Alexander Highy. 

meet with his name, as heretofore, on new committees. On i8 
October he was one of the Lancashire assessors for raising relief 
for Ireland, by which the county had to contribute ^83 6s. 8d. 
weekly.^^ On 20 February, 1644-5, ^"^^ was one appointed to raise 
money in Lancashire towards the maintenance of the Scottish army, 
of which the share of the county per month was ^730 is. 4d. His 
son Edward and others were associated with him in this heavy and 
unpopular tax.^'^ The pay of Rigby's old regiment being much in 
arrear, a hateful plan was adopted to raise funds. On 15 May, 
1645, Major Rigby and Major Robinson, two officers of Col. Rig- 
by's regiment, were permitted to make discovery of any Papist's or 
Delinquent's Estates.^^ 

Col. Rigby's devotion to the revolution induced the House of 
Commons, from 25 March, 1645, to allow him ^4 weekly for his 
maintenance; and William Ashurst, John Moore, and about seven- 
ty other members received the same gratuity on the ground that all 
had lost or been deprived of the benefit of their estates, or were in 
such want that they could not without supplies support themselves 
in the service of the House. The order, which was originally drawn 
up for the House by Rigby himself, was discharged on 20 August, 
1646.^^ When the ordinance of Parliament, 20 June, 1645, associat- 
ed the northern counties against " Papists and other iH-affected per- 
sons," Rigby and his usual associates were made commissioners for 
another burthensome tax, to raise in Lancashire 438 horse.^^ On i 
July he was on a committee to consider the propositions for the 
speedy relief of Ireland.'*" 

35 Husband, Collections (folio). 563 ; comp., Civil War Tracts. 91. ^' Husband, Collections, II. 613. 
=" Journals, House of Commons, IV, 143. ^^ ibjcj^ iv. 141, 161, 649. 
39 Husband, Collections, 666-668. 

*o Meanwhile the second siege of Lathom, then held by Capt. Rawstorne. was taking place, and in 
the service against it the younger Alexander was engaged, under Colonel Egerton. By some means 



Colonel Alexander Eujhy. 21 

On 29 August, 1645, ^ parliamentary ordinance appointed Col. 
Rigby a committee-man to assess the already over-taxed county for 
"the soldier's lay," the amount not to exceed ^300 per month. Be- 
sides the usual persons, this committee included Edward Rii^by, 
Esq., Alexander Rigby the younger, Esq., Nicholas Rigby of Ilar- 
rock, Esq.; and Alexander Norris of Bolton, gent., was treasurer." 
The colonel was in Lancashire again for a period, and fate once 
more took him to Lathom House, not yet surrendered. In some 
parleys which the besiegers had with the garrison, Col Rigby prog- 
nosticated the surrender from "the smell and taste" of the garments 
of the latter, as Major Robinson relates (p. 62). On 3 December 
the House surrendered. 

When the Earl of Warwick, 21 March, 1645-6, was constituted 
Admiral and Governor-in-Chief of all foreign plantations, planted by 
the English, Alexander Rigby was among the members of Par- 
liament joined with him for aid and assistance.'*" Of trivial matters 
which came under the cognizance of the lynx-eyed member, one 
should be mentioned connected with Lady Grosvenor, wife to Sir 

Alexander was taken prisoner, and was kept in Lathom House for a few months. A resolution 
of the House of Commons, 27 Feb. 16.^4-5, was passed to the effect that the House appr<ivcd 
of the exchange of Lieutenant-Colonel Uriah Leigh, prisoner to the Parliament in Peter House, for 
Lieutenant-Colonel Kigby, who was to give bond to Colonel Rigby and agree to other contliiion-i for 
the due completion of the exchange. The negotiation about the two prisoners, who were kin>men, 
was a long affair. On 3 May, 1645, another resolution approving of the exchange was pa->seil by the 
House, and it was ordered that Mr. Kigby be enjoined to put in suit for the advantage of the public 
the bond entered into by .Sir Hevis Thelwall for not performing the condition thereupon touching the 
enlargement of Mr. Alexander Rigby, eklest son of the said Mr. Rigby, and to do .ill acis for llie 
.speedy recovery <jf the same (y('//r//i//j, iv. 63, 131). The younger .Alexander was ai length freed ; 
anfj it was he who, (m 6 July, was at Manchester, where, with Cols. .Stanlcv, Holland. Mgcrton, 
Hyde, and Raphe Ashton, he signed a letter to the Speaker, carried up by Samuel Mirch. stating 
that though, except at Lathom House, there were no visible forces in the county itself, danger was 
to be expected from the Karl of Newcastle's great force at Rratlford, near which it seems a l.irge 
(piantity of arms and ammunition, which the Lancashire colonels liad sent thither, liad been cap- 
tured. The writers also fear the "abundance of Papists and malignants swarming amongst us," and 
beg for assistance in the present " bleeding condition" of the county {h'cal G'ranini^f, 11). 
*' Husband, Collections, 718; comp., Civil War Tracts, 210. *^ Husband, Collections, 829,830. 



22 .Colonel Alexander Righy. 

Richard Grosvenor. On i May, 1646, Rigby and others were ap- 
pointed to examine information given concerning words spoken in 
Lady Grosvenor s chamber; and she, Eleanor Windell and Elizabeth 
Cotton, two waiting maids, and Dr. Biron, were arrested for the 
purpose.'*^ 

On 15 May, 1646, Col. Rigby had leave of the House to go into 
the country. The mention of his name in the Journals soon after, 
shows that he did not go. On 11 July he was one of the Commis- 
sioners for the conservation of the peace between England and Scot- 
land, and among the other names were Sir William Brereton and 
Mr. Ashurst.'" In February 1646-7 his son Edward, who inherited 
the father's activity and ambition, was arrested and imprisoned for 
debt by William Porter and Thomas Turner; whereupon Col. Rig- 
by on the 15th brought the matter before the House, declaring that 
his son was his servant "for these three months past," and that the 
arrest was contrary to the privilege of members. The committee of 
complaints were ordered to enquire into the matter; but it was not 
till 18 January, 1647-8, following that the report was received and 
proceedings at law were stayed.**'' Colonel Rigby was a member of 
the committee to relieve persons sued for any act done by authority 
of Parliament, 21 May, 1647.^*^ As one of the Sequestrators of Lan- 
cashire, his name is attached to a letter, dated 28 August, 1647, con- 
cerning Lord Derby's estate.^^ 

On 20 December, 1648, Colonel Rigby signed the remonstrance 
against making a treaty with the King in the Isle of Wight. On 

*3 Journals, Ilou-^e of Commons, IV. 529. 

** Husb.iiKl, Collections, 905 ; comp., Rushworth, Collection, IV. 313 ; Thurloe, Collection, I. 79. 

■"^ Very shortly after this discreditable transaction the petition of Edward Rigby of Gray's Inn, 
junior, son of Alexander Rigby, Esq., was read to the House, 25 Feb., 1647-8, begging for the ofifice 
of Clerk of ihe Crown for the County of Lancaster during his life, void by the delinquency of Alex- 
ander Rigby of Burgh, Esq. ; and a motion to give him the office was negatived, Mr. Wm. Ashurst 
being appointed [yoinvials, v. 471-2). 

*' Scobcll, 122. ^'J Seacome, 148. 



Colonel Alexander R'^jhy. 23 



25th Colonel Moore signed the same paper.*^ To prevent the 
Treaty the King's person was seized, and wlicn it was decided to 
Ijiiiii:;- him to trial, Cromwell nominated Col. Rigby as one of the 
judges. Much as Rigby hated the King he declined to act. " In 
1648, Rigby, who was still acting as Colonel in Lancashire, joined 
the High Sheriff in signing the warrant for apprehending and com- 
mitting Col. John Booth to prison at Liverpool, from whence he 
was afterwards sent to the Tower on a charge of fa\ouring the Duke 
of Hamilton's rising."^'' 

Amongst the legal promotions in 1649 ^^1. Rigby comes into no- 
tice. On I June the "merits and deserts" of Mr. Sergeant Brad- 
shaw were ordered to be considered by the House. It was next re- 
solved that the House approved of Peter Warburton, Esq., to be 
one of the Judges of the Court of Common Pleas; and of Alexan- 
der Rigby, Esq., to be one of the Barons of the Court of the Excheq- 
uer. Writs were then ordered to be issued for calling Warburton 
and Rigby to the dignity and degree of a sergcant-at-law ; and an 
act was brought in for making the writs returnable immediately.''" 

Henceforth the quondam colonel is called Baron Rigby, and the 
remaining events of his life are connected witli his judicial duties. 
The Judges of Assize were then appointed by the Lords Commis- 
sioners of the Great Seal, who, in conjunction with the House of 
Commons, made at this time some necessary alterations. An Act 
was introduced 15 June, 1649, for enabling the judges that went on 
the northern circuit to hold an assize at Durham, in reference to 
which l)aron Thoipe, who that year took the northern circuit, was 
ordered to consult with 15aron Rigby how to continue the proceed- 

*" Walker. Independency, ii. 4H. *" Robinson, Disci^urse of tlie Warr, 12S. 

^' Whitelocke, Memorial, 111,43. "^^^ portrait to illustrate this article was undiubtcdly made at 
this period of his career, as he is depicted in his judicial robes and wig, and by close ins|iection the 
cap iTiay be seen. This is the only picinre of any person icmnctiL-d with early Maine history known 
to be in existence. 



24 Colonel Alexcmder Righy. 

ings in the co. Palatine of Lancaster as formerly.''^ On 21 June an- 
other act was introduced for keeping a session or assize in the Cas- 
tle of Lancaster on 7 September ensuing, and it seems likely that 
Rigby presided at this assize. Baron Rigby is returried in the 
Church Survey of 1650, as one of the impropriators of the tithes of 
Barton in Preston parish, and of Poulton. On i April he and 
Thorp, as two barons of the Exchequer, were two of the Commis- 
sioners named in the act for establishing the High Court of Justice.^^ 

Judge Rigby's last appearance at an assize was in August, 1650, 
at Chelmsford in Essex, where a sermon was preached before him 
on Luke xvi. 2. Soon afterwards the judge fell sick, and the assizes 
were adjourned, promise being made to come back and finish them 
there after the Croydon Assizes were over. Rigby sat at the latter 
place, where his sickness so much increased, and where Judge Gates, 
his colleague, was also attacked in the like manner, as well as the 
High Sheriff of Surrey, that "all three were speedily conveyed away 
thence to London, where they all three died immediately after, even 
within a seven-nights space or thereabout, of a most violent pesti- 
lential fever; and very many more of their clerks, officers, and at- 
tendants on the said assizes died also at the same time, as was gen- 
erally and most credibly informed and reported."''^ 

The date of Rigby's death was 18 August, and Baron Gates died 

^1 Journals, House of Commons, VI. 233. ^- Council of State Proceedings, 73. 

^^ This relation is taken from John Vicar's Dagon Demolished : or. Twenty Admirable [IVoider- 
ful\ Examples of God''s Severe Justice and Displeasure against the Sul>scri/>ers of the late Eiigage7netit 
against our Lawful Sovereign King Charles the S''cond . . . published to reclaim szcch Fanat- 
ique persons, who have been too forward to promote this Wicked Destructive Engagt'7?ic tit, 410. 1660. 
The writer adds that Rigby was " a most desperate enemy to the Presbyterians' Church Discipline, 
as being a great Independent," this being the cause of the Divine displeasure ; and he also says that 
he himself knew "one Capt. Hindley, one of Judge Rigby's chief clerks or officers, who died at the 
same time, immediately upon the very same time of these Judges' deaths, a most remarkable and 
fearful example of God's wrath upon engagers and sinful Complyers with workers of iniquity," Ful- 
ler in his Church History, ed. Oxon., iv. 402, who discusses gaol fevers, confirms the extraordinary 
account of Vicars, when he relates that " a great depopulation happened " on this occasion. 



Colonel Alexander HUjhy. 25 

on the following day.** Gates was interred at the Temple Church. 

Rigby's remains were said to have lain in state at Hly Place, Hol- 
born, and the internicnt took j^lace at Preston, on the 9 September/"^ 
The Cavalier Blundell, like Vicars, noted the " KxamiDle " of the 
death of Judge Rigby, but it affected him in another respect. 
" There died in the compass of about one year, four of our chiefest 
Lancashire colonels of the Parliament party, viz., Ashton [Ralph of 
Middleton, died, says Dugdale, in February, 1650]; Dodding 
[George of Conishead, died in 1650] ; More [John, M. P. iov Liver- 
pool, died in 1650]; and Rigby [died 18 August, 1650], of which 
the last was thought, as his nephew told me, to be certainly poison- 
ed.""^ Although Rigby made such a mark in the country, he seems 
to have been almost as obscure in Goosnargh as his residence was. 
No story and no memory of him has survived amongst a people, who 
are naturally fond of traditionary lore, and there are the descendants 
of many of Rigby's contemporaries still inhabiting the locality. 
This is probably in Rigby's favour, for 

The e\il that men do lives after them, 
The good is oft interred with their bones ; 

and this would lose none of its force amongst a race of people who 
are prone to say much about "seed, breed, and generation." 

** Peck, Desiderata Curiosa, II. (xiv), 532. ^' Fisliwick, History <>f Ooosnarnh, 147. 

^' niuiulell, Cavaliers Note IJook, 29. The authorities cnnsiilied in the preparation of this article 
include the following works: The Moore Rental. VIII; Scacomc, Memoirs of the House of Stan- 
ley; Foss', Judges, IV. 490; Visitation of Lancashire (1613), 65, and (1665). 145; The Civil War 
Tracts, pasum ; A Discourse of the Warr in Lancashire, passim ; Notes and Queries. 4 S. viij. 247 ; 
Lancashire Lieutenancy, pp. 275-8 ; Fishivick's Hist, of Cloosnargh, pp. 140, .vy., with a portrait, like- 
wise engraved in The Reliquary, xi. 247, and in Croston's Nooks and Corners of Lancashire and 
Cheshire, p. 333 ; Halley's Nonconformity in Lancashire, vol, i. 308 t**^. and passim ; Sec. Other 
sources of information arc mentioned passim, as above cpioted. This biography is comjiilcd 
from a sketch of Rigby's life published in the Palatine Note Pook l>y its editor. John Kglinton 
Bailey, I'.sq., F. .S. A. of .Slrctford, Manchester, Kngland, to whom full crctlit is due for the collection 
of original material and procuring a copy of the miniature portrait at the head of this article. 




APPROXIMATE BOUNDARIES AND LOCATION 

OF THE 

PLOUGH PATENT and PROVINCE of LYGONIA, 

BY COMMISSIONERS' DECISION 1846. 



II. THE PLOUGH PATENT. 



"The Plough Patent which I esteeme no better than a broken tytle." 

Richard Vines to yoh it IVinthrop, 9 January, 1643. 



Ox tlic 6th of July, 1 63 1, Governor W'inthrop 
made the following entry in his Journal: "A small 
ship of sixty tons arrived at Natascott, Mr. Graves 
master. She brought ten passengers from London. 
They came with a patent to Sagadahock, but, not 
liking the place, they came hither. These were the 
C()mi)any called the Husbandmen, and their ship 
Ann.s..fst.-,,i„.,.Hari.ii..r, c^^]]^,^l \\^^ PI ( ,u' 'li ."' '■' Wcarc hcrc first introduced 

I'luttor of FIoukIi Colony. "^ 

From .Moa-miv ••sph.Tc to a body of emiti^rants constitutinjj: the advance 

ot »;.-iitry," ./ » r> 

guard of a society of religious fanatics who intended 




nil. •-'. jHi},')' 1(1.1. 

PuldiHiied, LoikIoii KiTil. 



^" WinthrDp, Journal, 3d edition, i. 69; conip. Hubbard. New Kiigland, 141, 142. ihcrc was a 
ship called the Plough, 160 tons, owned in 1627 by James, Karl of Carlisle, and afterward sold (1628) 
to Captain Thomas Combes and Morrice rhompson, who were granted letters of marque that year. 
I'he ne.\t year (12 Nov. 1629), William Cock, master of the " Plough of London," relates the circum- 
stances of the capture of the Island of St. ('hristo|)hers by a large .Spanish fleet. (Calendar, 
Domestic State Papers, 1627-1629.) The Plough which carried the Husbandmen left Hoston for .St. 



28 Colonel Alexander Righy. 

to establish a colony on the new English shores where they hoped 
to be freed from the persecutions which had followed them at 
home. This " Company of Husbandmen " brought with them a 
patent from the Council for New England, dated 26 June, 1630,^^ 
which granted unto Bryan Bincks, John Dye, John Smith, Thomas 
Jupe, John Crispe, and their associates, a tract of land forty miles 
square.^'' The location and extent of this grant were never dis- 
tinctly understood, and from the first the indefinite terms and 
description became frequent sources of controversy and misunder- 
standing between the grantors and grantees of the patent. The 
partners remaining in London wrote under date of 8 March, 163 1-2 
to the colonists as follows : 

" We gaue you nottes by Mr. Allertun,*'*^ and wee hope you haue 
long since receued it, that wee haue had much ado abought our 
patten, and that there was one Bradshaw that had proquired letters 



Christophers a few weeks after her arrival, but was compelled to put back on account of stress of 
weather, " and was so broke she could not return home." (Winthrop, Journal, 3d edition, i. 72.) 
Hubbard adds, " they laid her bones there." (History of New England, 141, 142.) 

^^ This date is taken from a contemporary manuscript in the possession of the Maine Historical 
Society, and, to my knowledge, has never before been published. 

^3 The loss of the original patent (and no verbatim copies are known be in existence) precludes the 
formation of any definite knowledge of the boundaries of this patent. Hubbard locates it "south of 
the Sagadahoc River" and "twenty miles from the sea-side." (History of New England, 510.) 
Maverick writing in 1660 says " there was a patent granted to Christo: Batchelo'' and Company in 
the year 1632 or thereabouts for the mouth of the River [Kennebec] and some tract of land 
adjacent." (Egerton MSS. 2395, folio 397.) An anonymous writer, about 163S, speaks of " a 
patent of Segadehock granted to Crispe and others" (MSS. No. 3448. British Museum) and another 
contemporary alludes to it as "a Pattent for M"" Crispe and others for Sagadahock." (Colonial 
Papers, Public Record Office, ii. 16.) "Two Islands in the River Sagadahock, near the South Side 
thereof about 60 miles from the Sea," were included in the grant, but it is not possible to locate 
such islands in this river (Sullivan, History of Maine, 310), though it is evident that the council 
supposed them to be there. In the minutes of their proceedings they decided to reserve "for the 
dublike plantation . . . the two great Islands lying in y« river of Sagadahoc." (Colonial 
Papers, ii. 6. ) 

''^ This was Isaac Allerton of the Pilgrim Colony at Plymouth. 



Colonel Alexander Righy. 29 

patten for a part as wee soposed of our fformer grant, and so wee 
think stell, but lie and Sir Fferdinando think it is not in our 
bouns.'"' He was ffrustrat of his ffurst purpose of cuniing ouer, 
but is now joyned with 2 vere able captens and marchants, which 
will set him ouer, and wee sopowse will be ther as soun as this shipe, 
if not befor. Wee can not posible relate vnto you the labur and 
truble that wee h:iue had to establishe our fornier grant:''" mane 
rufe words wee haue had from Sir Fferdiniando at the ffurst, and to 
this houer he douth afferm that he neuer gaue consent, that you 
should haue aboufe forte mills in lenkth and 20 millse in bredth, 
and sayeth that his one hand is not to your patten if it haue anne 
more : so whe haue dun our good wellse and haue proqured his 
loufe and mane promases that wee shall haue no wronge. Wee 
bestoud a suger lofe vpon him of sume i6s prise, and he hath i)rum- 
isd to do vs all the good he can."^'^ 

^^ Richard Ikadshaw was granted a patent for 1500 acres of land "above the hedd of Pashippscot 
on the north side thereof," 2 November 1631, having been '* liveing there some yeares before." 
(Minutes, Council for New England.) Bradshaw, however, was given posscs><ion of this amount of 
land at the Spurwink river by •- ajjtain Neale, and afterward s(jld his rights there to Richard rucker, 
who settled thereon and, with his partner George Cleeve, tried to maintain this claim against the 
Trelawny Patent, but unsuccessfully. (Trclawny Papers, 32, 207, 229, 308 ) 

"■•^ This would indicate the existence of a prior grant which became void, and may account for the 
allusions to the various patents "for Sagadahock" spoken of in a previous note. 

** 4 Mass. Hist. Coll. vii. 94-96. The Company further say respecting the difificulty about their 
grant : " Wee can proquer nothinge vnder his hand, but in our heringe he gauc order vnto Mr 
Aires to wright vnto Capten Neyle of I'ascatoway that Uradshew and wee maight bee bounded, that 
wee mayght not truble cch other, and haue giuen the Capten comand to serch your patten, what it is 
you haue vnder my lords hand and his. Wee need not Counscll you what to do in that c.isc, only 
wee giue you noitcs of it, desieringe God toderect you that 110 just ocation may be giuen one our parts 
to be euell sjjoken of. Wee gaue Sir Fferdingand this rcsen whey wee desired so larg a patten, 
bcca.se that the grcttcst part of it was not habciable, being rockc, wer no man could life ; and he 
ansored wee shoulld not doubt but be allowed enofe for vs all, and in the best part of it, accordinge 
to our desier ; but if wee should haue so much as wee say they haue granted vs, then tlo wc includ 
difers of ther former plantations, which they neuer intended. Ihis ct)ntcrfers must be ended 
between your scllfcs and such guferners of then of Pimcqucd as they haue apoinicd." 



30 Colonel Alexander Righy. 

The owners of this patent with its perpetual lease to heirs and 
assigns were members of the strange sect of religious enthusiasts 
called the Family of Love or Familists who flourished in Holland 
and England during the latter half of the sixteenth and first half of 
the seventeenth centuries. The founder, Henry Nicholas a native 
of Westphalia, originally an Anabaptist, taught that religion con- 
sists wholly in love, and as the apostle of this creed claimed supe- 
riority over Christ on the ground that Moses only preached hope, 
Christ faith, while he preached love. Their doctrines seem to have 
been a species of pseudo-spiritual sentimentalism, inevitably result- 
ing in gross immorality, and Fuller in his " worthies " calls them the 
Family of Lust. Queen Elizabeth instituted an investigation into 
their practices, which resulted in their dispersion and the burning 
of their books and property. They continued to flourish, however, 
in a precarious way for about a century, but finally expired under a 
continual battery of ridicule in prose and verse."^ The London 
partners allude to this persecution when they adjure the colonists 
to be united and " put to sham and silanse mane that do now sham- 
fuUe ris vp against vs."^'^ Such were the company of Husband- 
men who came to our shores in the " Plough," and their proposed 
colony was to be operated upon the communistic principle of equal 
division of expenses and profits and would become in time an 
asylum for the oppressed brethren in England.*^*^ The conditions 

8* Interesting particulars concerning this peculiar sect may be read in Knewstub's " Confutation of 
Monstrous and Horrible Heresies taught by H. N &c.," London, 1579; Rogers' Displaying of an 
horrible Secte, &c., London, 1579; Baxter's Autobiography, 77; Strype's Annals, ij. 57 ; Mosheim's 
Ecclesiastical History, chap. xvi. § iij. p. xij.; Collier's Ecclesiastical History of England, vi. 609; 
vij. 311 ; Hardwicke's History of the Reformation, ch. 5. 

65 4 Mass. Hist. Coll. vii. 94-96. 

^^ The " ten passengers" constituting the first lot of colonists cannot be all identified. So far as 
determined they were Bryan Binckes, Peter Johnson, John Kerman, John Smith, " M'' " [John] 
Crispe, and the "sons" of " Goodman Tamage." 



Colonel Alexander Righy. 31 

of membership in tliis adventure were religious affiliation and a 
subscription of ^lo to the common stock, but though the former 
was not strictly essential, the latter was a necessary requisite. The 
business management of this religious scheme was conducted by 
members of the society in London, principally by John Dye, "dwell- 
ing in Fillpott Lane," Grace Hardwin, Thomas Jupe and John 
Roch, "dwelling in Crooked Lane," but it may here be said in 
anticipation, that their part in the affair became a mere probate 
proceeding in bankruptcy, for the colonists never settled on their 
patent. Before the brethren in London could hear from their 
friends in the Plough the obituary of the colony had been written 
by Winthrop." It would be unnecessary to occupy further space 
than to record their epitaph did not the letters of the London part- 
ners written to the colonists, in ignorance of the collapse of the 
scheme, unfold to us the elaborate preparations made by them for 
securing a permanent establishment, and sending reinforcements to 
it. Under date of 8 March, 1631-2, they say "our tim hath bin 
taken vp with fordringe, hellpinge and providinge thinges fittinge 
for these our bretheren that are now to come vnto you," and we 
are informed therein that two vessels with colonists were to be 
dispatched forthwith. These two vessels the " Whale " and the 
"William and Francis," both of London, set sail I\Larch 9th and 
April 8th, 1632, respectively, bearing in addition to the colonists a 
number of distinguished persons. In the "Whale," which arrived 
May 26th, came John Wilson and Richard Dummer (who held a 

•^ A contemporary manuscript in the possession of the Maine Historical Society, which was tlrawn 
up by the attorney for the Kigt^y heirs, contains the following statamcnt : "In the year 1630 'rhe 
s'' liryan Hincks, John Smith & others associates go personally into New Knglaiul & settle them- 
selves in Casco Hay near the South side of SagaJahock & lay out considerable Sums of Money in 
planting there & make laws & constitutions for the well ruling & g<»vcrning their s** Plantations & 
Provence." With the positive statements of Winthrop, Hubbard, Maverick, and other contempo- 
rary writers to the contrary it is not probable that this authority is entitled to full credit. 



32 Colonel Alexander Righy. 

commission from the London partners) " and about thirty passen- 
gers, all in health " ; in the " William and Francis," which arrived 
June 5th, came Governor Edward Winslow, Thomas Welde, (who 
published twelve years later " A Short Story of the Rise Reign and 
Ruin of Antinomians, Familists and Libertines that infested the 
Churches of New England "), Stephen Bachiler, their aged pastor 
in London, transferred from' thence to missionary labors in the 
colony, and about "sixty passengers."*'^ In the cargo of these two 
vessels came invoices of merchandise for the use and profit of the 
colony and an enumeration of some of them will be the best evi- 
dence of the io^norance of the business manao'ers of the conditions 
necessary to the success of their venture. 

" The goods you shall recefe in the William and Frances that is 
the cumpanes, is 4 hogshds of pese, which cost, cask and all 6li- 
5s-od ; the caske as markt with 2 plouse markt one one hed, 
wher as all ther go(o)ds haue i plou on ech hed; and 12 yards of 
brod cloth at 5s 6d. cumes vnto . . . . 3 — 6 — o 

200 yards of list at 7s 6d. per hundred, which lest we 
think may be good to mak Indian breches or blankits 
I pray send woard if it be a comodete worth sendinge 
anne mor --------- o — 15 — o 

I fryes coat, i payr of briches, boath at - - o — 19 — o 



5— 0—0 

^8 Wiiithrop, Journal, i. 92, 93, 94. Speaking of the coming of their veneral)Ie preacher, Stephen 
Bacheler, then 71 years old, they say : " furst let vs not forget to remember you of yours and our 
date that wee return humble and harte thankes vnto All mighte God, that hath filled the hart of 
our reuerent pastor so full of selle, of loufe and extreordenare affection toward our pouer sosiate, 
that not with standinge all the oposition, all the suttell persawations of abundens of oposers, that 
hath bin sturd vp against vs, partly through sellfe loufe, not affectinge this general! serfetud, and 
partly thrt)ugh that vntimly brech of our brother Cermen ; yet he remayneth constent, perswadinge 
and exortiiige yee and as much as in him lyeth, constrayinge all that lufe him to joyn together with 
this sosiate; and seinge the cumpane is not able to bere his charges ouer, he hath strayned him sellfe 
to prouid prouision for him sellfe and his famally, and hath dun his vttermost indever to hellp ouer 
as mane as possible he can, for your further strainketh and incurigement." 



Colonel Alexander Migby. 33 

When we contemplate the wild Indian in broad-cloth breeches 
and listing blankets we may see the absurdity of anticipating suc- 
cess upon such a basis. Nor was the financial standing of the com- 
pany in London such as to warrant a belief in the stability of the 
corporation. They wrote to the colonists: "forasmuch as ther is 
oughinge 200 li by the Company in London, \jjpon Ijond \ppon our 
securitie, and is yearely a great burden vnto vs ; wee desire you 
tlierefore that our goods may not be there retayned any longer, ffor 
the debts vppon bond the Companys goods must paye," and elsewhere 
say " Wee are constrayned to mak vse of the tunige mone(y) of 20 
l)asingers to pay oulld dets." The second lot of emigrants were 
not of the rigiit stamp to become the founders of a colony, and 
the London ))artners felt constrained to apologize because "the 
men louck aged and the chilldren younge," but still supposed they 
would not prove burdens to the plantation. Some of them how- 
ever were skilled laborers, one being " experensed in the makinge of 
sallt," and it was hoped that the others would be put to work, 
" accordinge to ther strainckte.'"''' The selection of such persons is 
to be explained upon the ground of necessity, for they were in 
most instances wives, sons, daughters, or relatives of the first lot, 
and the London partners allude to their importunities to be allowed 
to join the colonv.'" This however was onlv one of the many 
causes operating in this adventure toward the disastrous result, and 
we must look to a combination of circumstances, the objects and 
aims of the r'amilisis, their character, the location chosen by them. 

''"4 M.iss. Jlist. Cull. vii. 94-96. 

'" " There is allso a vcrc pour V.irkshcr man his name i.s John Hancstcr : he hath mad such cxtrc- 
ordcnary mone locum ouer, that Mr Hachcllr and Mr Dumcr hath had simi comi)asion. and payd for 
his pasagc ; if you Ihinke you be able to rcccuc him, and do so think good of it, wee then do dcsicr 
you to let him be the cumpcnse saruent, and put him to such emplymcnt as you thinkc i;()o(l. and 
vpon such conditions as yon shall sec mit." (Companv Letter S Mch 1631 -2.) 



34 Colonel Alexander Ricjhy. 

probably about Cape Small Point, to account for the climax of their 
expedition before the end of three months. 

Maverick writes that the colonists "soon scattered, some for 
Vireinia, some for Eno-land, some to the Massachusetts never set- 
tling; on that land." '^ 

With commendable promptness one of the colonists, John Ker- 
man, proceeded to save to himself something out of the general 
wreck, and on i8 October, 1631, secured the following order from 
the o-eneral court : 

" There shalbe taken out of the estate of M'' Crispe & his com- 
pany the some of xij' j' v'', & deliued to John Kirman, as his pp 
goods, & after the whole estate to be inventoryed, whereof the 
s'^ John Kirman is to haue an 8"' pte ; this to be done with all con- 
venient speeds by theis 5 comission'"", or any 3 of them, vz : M"' John 
Masters, M'' Robte Feakes, M'' Edward Gibbons, Epharim Childe, 
Dan" Fynch, &c." '- 

Those of the colonists who remained in Massachusetts also took 
steps to have the estate of the company distributed in a legal man- 
ner and the affairs of the defunct corporation administered for the 
benefit of the creditors. Accordingly on 5 June, 1632, the day of 
the arrival of the Whale with the new colonists, the General Court 
passed the following : 

" It is ordered that the goods of the company of husbandm shall 
be inventoryed by the beadle, & and pserued here for the vse and 
benefitt of the said company." 

This was supplemented shortly after by three more legislative 
orders as follows : 

" Peter Johnson and Bryan Bincks were bound in the sum of 

"1 Egerton, MSS. 2395, ff. 397-411- 

"'■^ Mass. Col. Rec. i. 92. It is not clear why Kerman was given a dividend in advance. 



Colonel Alexander' Higby. 35 



/lo, as security, not to leave the jurisdiction of Massachusetts 
until they had should render an account of the affairs of the 
company. 

"John Smyth hath likewise bound himselfe in \' to be accompt- 
able for his companyes o'oods nowe inventoryed, &: remaineing in 
his hands. 

'• It is likewise ordered, that those goods w''' were sent ouer with 
the said [ohn Sm\the shall remalne in the hands of M' Wilson, 
for w'"'' hee is to be accountable to those y' sent them ouer." ' ' 

I^'or some reason, which is not apparent, the London partners 
were not informed of the collapse of the plantation for manv 
months after the event, and not till i December 1632, did they 
send over to Governor W'inthrop a statement of the companx's 
estate. This proj^erty according to their inventory amounted to 
about ^300 as appears by their letter of, that date, in which they 
ask that justice be meted out to all parties: 

" Those thinges that are there of the Cumpanies to our knowl- 
edge are these : fifirst, there is the 6 ordnance with there carriges, 4 
ankers and cables, which stand vs heare in England in little lesse 
then ..-.-..... lOo- 0-0 
There is alsoe a parsell .... izion sent by Mr Allerton 030- 0-0 
A parsell of pease [....] 013- 0-0 

•'' Mass. Col. Rec. i. 96, 98. An iiicideiit of collatural interest took jjlace at tliis time (5 July i6j2), 
when the above-named .Smith was bound out to Kev. Mr. Wilson by order of the General Court, in 
the following terms : "John .Smithe is bound as an apprentice with M'' John Wilson for fyvc yeares 
from this Court, dureinp; w'"*' tearme M' Wils(jn is to finde the said John Smylhc mcatc, drinke, & 
app'ei, & atl the end of the said time is to giue vnto him the some of fforty shillings." (Mass. Col. 
kec. i. 98.) It appears, however, that Smith's principles, imbil}cd from the " Family of Love," were 
not stifled by the good Parson Wilson, his master, for on 3 Sept. 1635, the (Icncral Court " Ordered, 
that John .Smyth shalbc sent within theis 6 weekes out of this jurisdicon, for dyvcrs dangerous 
opini<jns, w""** hee holdeth, & hath dyvulgcd, if in the meane tyme he removes not himselfe out of this 
plantacim." (Ibid. 159.) Probably this is the same John Smith who raised a religious disturbance 
at Wtyiiiniiili in 1639, and sid)sf(|iiintlv (icnrc-i in thr Court records therefor. (Il)id. 252, 254,258.) 



36 Colonel Alexander Righy. 

And a parsell of broade cloth and a coat and list - 05-10-0 

And a parsell of plate waire of Thomas Juppes owne 

perticLiler adventure --.... ori-16-8 
And a parsell of Master Hardings goods - - - 016- 0-0 
There was a parsell of the Companies goods velaced by 

one Muzze - - - - - - - - 010- 0-0 

" There is much other goods there of the Companies, which wee 
cannot give you notice of. Wee desire you to call John Smith to 
account, by his owne letter hee hath 20 li worth of the Companies 
estat, which although wee desire not that ii should be presently 
taken from him, because wee pitty his poore estate, yet wee leaue it 
vnto your wise consideration to order, or to dispose towards the 
payment of Master Batchellor if you see iitt, vnto whome wee doe 
ough 60 //; it was sumethinge more, but the rest wee haue layd out 
for him in his frayt to the vallewe of 7 li; wee therefore desire that 
he should bee payde 60 //. There is goods allsoe to the vallewe of 
40 //, as wee are informed, that Mr. Dummer hath taken from 
Bryan Binkes and Peetter Johnsonn; ther is alsoe the ould shipp, 
and divers debts oughinge vs which wee intreate you to call John 
Smith to account for." '^ 

The London partners were strongly of the opinion that Richard 
Dummer had been guilty of sharp practices in connection with his 
stewardship. It appears that they regarded him as of good mate- 

■J* 4 Mass. Hist. Coll. vii. 94-96. They thus relieve their minds concerning the collapse : 
" Beinge now certified that Bryan Binkes and Better Johnsonn are gone to Vergenia, accordinge to 

the Companies order Heare hath binn a greate deale of complainte, and much euell ser- 

mizinge of the dealeinge of our brethren departed to Vergenia, but we wish we may haue noe worse 
from thence. Wee haue faire accound and good reason for what they did, and for profitt or losse. 
Gods will bee done. Wee hope wee shall find that that part of our estate carried away to Vergenia 
shalbee as well improued for all the Company, accordinge to that proportion, as they will improue 
ther oune in New England that doe soe surmize of there brethren. Time will try all things." (4 
Mass. Hist. Coll. vii. 94-96.) 



Colonel Alexander lltyby. 37 

rial for a convert. " Mr. Dunicrs promise," they wrote to the colo- 
nists, "is allso to joyn with you if ther be anne reson for it," and 
having become a subscriber to the scheme, he was intrusted by the 
London partners with power of attorney, and in this capacity 
brought over the original patent.'"^ In their letter to Winthrop 
they are unsparing in their denunciation of Dummer's duplicity.'*^ 
For the actual loss of money they profess not so much grief as for 
the failure of their religious colony and bemoan the legal contro- 
versy likely to arise, " which is a greater griefe vnto us than all those 
other croses that hath befallen us." Their closing aspiration and 
injunction to the scattered colonists is written in a worthy spirit : 
" Althoueh wee lose all, lett them not dishonor God and disc^race 
Religion." The process of settling the affairs of the company 
proved to be a slow one, and although Winthrop says that most of 
the colonists "proved P^amillsts and vanished away," yet one 
remained to get his share in the final division, 7 April, 1635, being 
none other than the |ohn Kerman, who was, as we have seen, the 

••' '• John Dye aforesaid and liis partners took in another as partner and associate with thoin, Mr. 
Richard Hummer of Newbury in New ICngland in the year 1638, to whom they delivered the original 
patent." (IIul)I)ard, Present State of New Kngland (ii.) 9, lo ; comp. Sullivan, Maine. 31^.) In a 
petition dated December, 16S3. Jeremiah. s(jn of Richard Dummer, says that the Plough Patent was 
" r)rdered home for England" and that the Patentees gave his father a grant of Soo acres in Casco 
P>ay for his " trouble and chnr^je in the management of their concerns." (Kolsom, .Saco and Bidtie- 
ford. 326.) The Patent was sent to England where Rigbv purchased it and ought to be found 
among the Colonel's papers, if any exist. 

■'■ " Wee desire you farther to take noiis ih.u when Master Hatclielior dublcd his adventure and 
made his adventure vpp 100 Ii, it was vppon condition that wee and Master Dummer slmuld doe soc 
likeuise. Wee at London did duble our adventures and wee received alsoe 40 Ii. of Master l>um- 
mcr for his duble adventure: yet, after some farther consideration, -Mr DunuDcr sent his money into 
the hands of a freind, that would not deliver it vs, without bonde to payc it againe. Nowe Mr 
Ihimmer promiscinge, as well .is wee, to duble his adventure, and to haue a part of lossc, if it soc fell 
out. as this inclosed letter will testifie, beinge the letter of his owne hand, sent with the mony: wee 
desire to rcferr ourselves vnto you, there to judge what is fitt for hin» to haue." (Mass. Ilisl. Coll. 
vii. 94-96) 



38 Colonel Alexander Righy. 

first in October, 1631, to draw a dividend.'^^ The General Court 
ordered on that date " that Capt [Wilham] Traske shall pay to 
John Kirman, out of the estate of the company of husband'", the 
some of ffoure & twenty pounds eleven shillings & fyve pence, 
being the remainder of the eight pte of the said estate, w'*' was by 
order of Court gyven the said John Kirman. Provided, if here- 
after it shall appeare, that there is not soe much due to y'' said John 
out of the said 8th pte, that then hee shalbe accomptable for the 
same. 

This record is the last that we shall meet concernino- the comino- 
of the " Companie of Husbandman," their abandonment of the pat- 
ented territory about the Sagadahoc, " not liking the place," and 
the division of the assets among the few who had not " vanished 
away." It is an interesting topic for speculation as to the results 
which might have followed had these strange religious fanatics suc- 
ceeded in establishing themselves in the Province of Maine on the 
shores of Casco Bay, but the conclusions that may be formulated 
are not profitable enough to occupy any space here. Sufhce it to 
say that when the colonists became scattered throughout the differ- 
ent settlements of New England they failed to leaven the great 
Puritan lump of theology and were soon lost in the crowd.'" Yet 

"" John Kernian seems to have been in the favor of the authorities and was elected a deputy to tlie 
General Courts of 1634 and 1636. (Mass. Col. Rec. i. 135, 1S5.) 

'^ Mass. Col. Rec. i. 143. Kerman received upon the two Court orders above cited, £2,6 12 10, and 
upon the supposition that it represented an eighth of the property it will be seen that the appraised 
value of the estate would be ^300. This was substantially the amount reported by the London 
Partners. In their letter to Winthrop i Dec. 1632 they make this further statement of their assets : 
" There was, in all, 14c li in jointe stoke; of this but the vallewe of 250 li caried to Vergenia, ac- 
cordinge to your praiseinge when you paid Carman '' (4 Mass. Hist. Coll. vii. 94-96.) 

™ The members of the " Companie of Husbandmen," as far as has been determined, comprise 
twenty-three names, viz. : John Dye, John Roach, Grace Hardwin, Thomas Jupe, John Robinson, 
Roger Binckes, Nathaniel Whetham, Henry Fowkes, Brian Kipling, Nathaniel Harresse, John Asten, 



Colonel Alexander liiyby. 39 

one of their number maintained his indixiduality and liis tenets, 
though in a disguised form — the aged pastor, Bachiler, who under- 
took in the fall of 1632, to gather a church at Lynn, emjDloving 
these colonists as a nucleus. The General Court on the 3 October 
required him " to forbeare exerciseing his guifts as a past'' or teacher 
jnibliquely in o'' pattent, unless it be to those hee brought with 
him," but rem()\ed the injunction at the next court.'"' In the winter 
of 1635-6 he was again in trouble, and " the cause was," savs Win- 
thrtip, "for that coming out of England with a small body of six or 
seven persons." he made enemies in the church at Saugus, which 
he had gathered and "with the said six or seven persons presentlv 
renewed their old covenaiU, intending to raise another church at 
.Sagus."-' In 163S he settled at Hampton and three years later, 
at the age of fourscore, committed an offence against good morals, 
" with his neighbor s wife." His after life was clouded with the ban 
of excommunication, and he led a wandering career, for a while in 
Maine, then in New Hampshire, finally returning to England, and 
dying at Hackne\', at the round age of one hundred years. Thus 
ended the career of the "Company of Husbandmen," and their 
adventure was soon an almost forgotten incident in the annals of 
colonization, while the patent itself l)ecame to be considered "no 
better than a broken tytle." 

The next and concluding paper will relate the more stininji events which fol- 
lf)\vefl upon the resuscitation of the patent. 

I'eicr Woostcr, I hnmas Payne, Stephen liachilcr, Richard Dummcr, [ohn Kcrnian, John Smith, 
Nathaniel Merriman, John Hancster, Peter Johnson, Hryan Hinkes, *' (loothiian " I'amadj^c, Jolin 
Crispe. the la.st eleven of whom were colonists. 

"*' Mass. Col. Rec. i. too, 103. 

•*' VVinthrop, Journal i. 210-211. This "old covenant" was tindouhtcdly the '• family of love" 
doctrine. 



III. THE PROVINCE OF LYGONIA. 



The quarrel is a pretty quarrel as it stands; and 
we should only spoil it in trying to explain it. — 
Sheridan, The Rivals, Act iv., So. iii. 



To the ambitions and ingenuity of George 
Cleeve of Casco, the planters of Maine were 
indebted for the resuscitation of the abandoned 
Plough Patent and the four years of internal 
strife and uncertainty which followed his endeav- 
ors to set up an independent government in the 
heart of the territory granted by royal charter to 
Sir Ferdinando Gorges. That he exhumed this 
forgotten skeleton, wired it together and made it 
dance to suit his schemes for personal aggrand- 
izement and private revenge rather than from 
LygonArms. motivcs of thc comniou public welfare, will be 

apparent as the story develops ; but to seek the causes of his mach- 
inations we must review briefly the political history of the prov- 




Colonel Alexander Righy. 41 

ince. W'licn the council for New England surrendered their char- 
ter 7 June, 1635, the territory comprised in their patent had been 
carefully divided by lot among the members. 

In this territorial division the portion which fell to Sir Ferdi- 
nando Gorges included a large part of the present State of Maine, 
and embraced the old but undefined limits of the Plough Patent. 
Sir Ferdinando called his portion New Somersetshire, from the 
English county in which his family estates were situated ; and he 
made provision forthwith for the civil government of the province 
by sending over his nephew, Captain William Gorges, as Deputy 
Governor pro fe7npore, until he could procure from the Crown the 
necessary confirmation of his title to the sovereignty as well as the 
soil of the province. 

By the employment of artifices in which he was an adept, Cleeve 
gained the confidence of Sir Ferdinando, and so successfully did he 
misrepresent the actions of the new Deputy Governor to the Lord 
Proprietor, and undermine his confidence in the faithful steward, 
Richard Vines, that before the young nephew had been in his seat 
scarcely two years he was recalled; Vines was dismissed, and Cleeve, 
triumphant, installed in their stead. His victory, however, was but 
ephemeral, for Sir Ferdinando was soon informed of the true char- 
acter of Cleeve, and speedily revoked his authority, and restored 
Vines to favor, placing him in the office of Deputy Governor, va- 
cated by his nephew.''''^ The Lord Proprietor still sought for a royal 
charter for his province and this object was accomplished 3 April, 
1639-40, when Charles I. granted him almost absolute seignoral 
privileges, such as were seldom, if ever, conferred by any govern- 

''^ This political incident of the administration of William Gorges has never been referred to by 
any of the historians of Maine, either local or general. The reader is referred to a letter of Sir 
Ferdinando Gorges to Governor John Winthrop, 23 August, 1637, in 4 Mass. Hist. Coll. vi. 329. 



42 Colonel Alexander Righy. 

ment on an individual.**^ This feudal seignory, with its magnificent 
outline of official administration, never reached its projected grand- 
eur, for the materials necessary to its perfection were lamentably 
deficient.^"* The sparse population of fishers and planters then scat- 
tered along the coast was insufficient to fill all the offices of his 
bailiwicks, hundreds, parishes, and tithings; yet amidst this pleni- 
tude of places there was one person who was omitted in the distri- 
bution of the offices. This was George Cleeve, whose intrigues 
had over-reached, as we have seen, and for the next three years he 
chafed in his enforced retirement at his plantation in Casco, only to 
have his ambition for place and power whetted to its keenest de- 
sires. Hunger had sharpened his wits, and his schemes for revenge 
were skilfully matured. By what agency he was led to think of the 
feasibility of resuscitating the forgotten and buried Plough Patent, 
and what sped his hopes of revivifying that "broken tytle," are use- 
less surmises; and it only concerns our story to know that he 
crossed the Atlantic to prosecute his plans, soon after the tidings 
of the outbreak of the civil war reached here.^^ There can be no 
doubt that he regulated this movement with a view to the enlist- 
ment of political and religious bias to his aid, for Gorges, the Lord 
Proprietor, was a Royalist and a Churchman, while Cleeve, if he 
could be anything sincerely, was a Roundhead and a Dissenter. 
His business in London was to find a purchaser for the Plough 
Patent, and to hunt out the original grantees for the purpose of 

83 This charter, familiar to all students of Maine history, was dated 3 April, 1639-40, and is printed 
entire in Hazard's Historical Collections, i. 442-445. Williamson pronounces it a masterly docu- 
ment as drafted for colonial government (History of Maine, i. 275). It vested all appointments in 
the Lord Proprietor, with power to make laws, establish courts {with appeal to himself,) raise troops, 
build cities, levy a revenue from customs, establish a navy, exercise admiralty jurisdiction, and to 
select his emigrants by such exclusion as he thought necessary. 

8* Gorges, Briefe Narration, 46. 

85 Willis, History of Portland, 74. 



Colonel Alexander Righy. 43 

arranging terms and procuring assignment. The latter work appar- 
ently presented no difficulties, for the speculation of the Familists 
had been a financial and social failure, and he could rightly con- 
clude that they would be ready to part with their useless privileges. 

To investors Cleevc probably represented the validity of the 
patent, the value of the territory with its six thriving settlements,"^® 
the ripening desire of the planters for a change of the proprietary 
to those in full sympathy with the parliamentary party,^' the small 
outlay, and the sure return of rents. The gentleman who believed 
all this, and purchased on that recommendation, was Colonel Alex- 
ander Rigby, then deeply engaged in the business of sequestrating 
the estates of Royalists. 

The sale was consummated 7 April, 1643, when John Dye, John 
Smith, Thomas Jupe, and other survivors of Bryan Bincks and 
others, transferred to Alexander Rigby "all their estate, interest 
and claim " in the Province of Ligonia.'''^ The name of the 
new province, and by whom suggested, is a curious problem, as 
the only plausible theory of its adoption that occurs to the writer is 
to suppose it to be derived from the family name of the mother of 
Sir Ferdinando Gorges, viz.. Cicely, daughter of William Lygon, of 
Madresfield court, Great Malvern, Worcestershire, whose arms are 
depicted at the head of this article.^'' But why Rigby and Cleeve 
should desire to perpetuate the name thus connected with their 

*• Westcustogo (Yarmouth), Casco (Portland), Black Point and Spurwink (Scarboro'), Richmond 
Island, and Saco. 

" Cleevc was as violently opposed by some of his own neighbors in this scheme as he was by 
the officials of Gorges in other towns, notably Arthur Mackworth. 

** Rigby Mm., Pejepscot Papers, 8 a. For some unknown reason only two of the eight patentees 
put their names to the transfer when the sale was accomplished (Winthrop, Journal, ij. 313). 

••The Lygon family is extinct in the male line, and is at present represented in the female by the 
Earl of Heauchamp, who kindly furnished the writer with an engraving of the Lygon arms, from 
which the illustration is engraved. The arms as now borne by him arc augmented by supporters. 



44 Colonel Alexander Righy. 

political rival and proprietary claimant, is difficult to explain. Nor 
is this the only strange circumstance connected with the affair, for 
it is not easy to understand what were the motives which could 
have induced Rigby to maintain an intimate association with such 
an unscrupulous demagogue as George Cleeve was generally 
thought to be, for he had earned in the local courts of Maine an 
unsavory reputation as a neighbor and citizen. Governor Edward 
Winslow of Plymouth Colony commenting on this strange alli- 
ance in a letter to Governor Winthrop of Massachusetts, writes: 
" As for Mr. Rigby, if he be so honest good & hopeful! an instru- 
ment as report passeth on him, he hath good hap to light on two 
of the arrantest knaues that ever trod on new English shore to be 
his agents east & west, as Cleves & Morton." °° 

The reasonable explanation is that Rigby was Ignorant of the 
character of this political agitator, and only purchased the patent 
as a speculation, lending his name, money and reputation to the 
venture for what it would bring. Thus equipped with documentary, 
financial and political endorsement, Cleeve returned to Maine in 
the early part of the fall of 1643, with a commission from Colonel 
Rigby as Deputy President, and a list of subordinate nominations 
for administrative officers composed of the associates of the now 
exalted adventurer. Discounting the opposition he expected to 
encounter from the lawfully established government of Gorges, he 
sought to enlist the moral support of Massachusetts Bay corpora- 
tion, and addressed them to that effect, but the wary statesmen of 
Boston declined to lend themselves to his scheme, and in General 
court, 7 September, 1643, voted that it was "not meete to write to 

9" Letter, ii Feb., 1643-4, printed in 4 Mass. Hist. Coll. vi. 175. Thomas Morton is referred to 
by Winslow. He was the "roysterer of Merry Mount," who gave the Pilgrims so much trouble. 



Colonel Alexander Rlghy. 45 

y® eastward about M^ Cleaves, according to his desire."^' But this 
rebuff did not deter the persistent plotter, and early in 1643-4 he 
sent his partner, Richard Tucker, to get signatures to a petition to 
the Massachusetts government seeking a mutual alliance for protec- 
tion against the "ffrench, Indians, and other enemyes," and asking 
to be admitted to the confederation of the United Colonies. Vines 
says that the subscribers whom he persuaded to sign were generally 
lawless persons, "a great part of them bound over to our Courts for 
notorious offences, and therefore are easily persuaded to set there 
handes to any thing that may be preiudiciall to a peaceable govern- 
ment."'*" This plan also miscarried, for "the Governour [Win- 
throp] returned answer that he must first advise with the commis- 
sioners of the United Colonies. And beside, they had an order 

*' Mass. Coll. Rec. ii. 41. Governor Winthrop wrote an unofficial letter to Deputy Governor 
Vines in behalf of Rigby. The Bay people were in sympathy with Cleeve, but did not care to 
show it. 

^^^4 Mass. Hist. Coll. vii. 346, 351. Vines gives an interesting account of the methods of Cleeve. 
and his entire letter ought to be read in full, but we can only make room for a short extract, by 
which it will be seen thai he was yet busy with his tongue against Gorges, who had suffered from 
his calumnies several years before : " 2 dayes before our Court [Cleeve] tooke a voiage into the bay, 
and all the way as he went from Pascataquack to Boston, he reported he was goeing for ayde against 
me, for that I had threatened him and his authority, to beate him out of this Province. By this 
false report and many other the like I am held an enemy to iustice and piety. I proffcsse vnto you 
ingenuously, I never threatened him directly nor indirectly, neither haue I seen him since he camnie 
out of England. I haue suffered him to passe quietly through our plantation, and to lodge in it, 
although I haue bin informed that he was then plotting against me. I am troubled at these sedi- 
tious proceedings; and much more at his most notorius scandalls of Sir fferdinando Gorges, a man 
for his age and integrity worthy of much honor ; him he brandes with the foule name of traytor by 
circumstance, in reporting that he hath counterfeited the king's broade seale, (if he haue any patent 
for the Province of Maync) ffor, says he, I haue serchcd all the Courts of Record, and can finde 
noe such grant. How could he haue given that graue Knight a deeijer wound in his reputaci'Jii. the 
which I know is more deare to him then all the wealth in America ; he likewise maynct.iyncs 
his false report of his death, ftlight into VValles, not with standing a letter dated the 25ih of I her 
last, from a marchant of London, of very good credit, and brought in Mr. Payne his ship, which 
letter imports Sir Fferd : Gorges his good health with the rcstauracion of his possesions agaync." 



46 Colonel Alexander Bighy. 

not to receive any but such as were in a church way."^^ Nothing 
came of it, and the freemen of Maine soon witnessed his bold at- 
tempt to set up an independent civil authority within the estab- 
lished jurisdiction of their province. The confusion that ensued 
was more disastrous than the temporary success of a smart politi- 
cian over a high-minded opponent such as Richard Vines showed 
himself to be throughout, for the new government set up a claim to 
propriety in the lands, as well as sovereignty, and titles held from 
Gorges would be worthless if Cleeve succeeded. The tenure of 
land for the struggling planters was at the mercy of this agitator, 
and those who were wise in their generation foresaw the issue 
made their peace with him, and repurchased their homes once paid 
for, or gave the rentals to the Rigby regime.^* 

Deputy President Cleeve called his first court to meet at Casco 
25 March, 1643-4, and proclaimed his authority, "extending his gov- 
ernment from Sackadehock to Cape Porpus, being aboue 13 leagues 
in lenght," and made nominations of " commissioners, and a colo- 
nell generall."^^ Prior to its assembling, Cleeve, as if to appear 
magnanimous, inspired a letter to Vines containing an offer to try 
the rights of the Gorges and Rigby governments before the magis- 
trates of Massachusetts.^*' This impudent proposal was rightly 
estimated by Vines, who said : " This I know to be Cleeues his 

83 Winthrop, Journal ii, 155. 

8* Rigby confirmed to Cleeve his valuable grant of Machigonne (Casco) which Gorges had granted 
to him in 1637. Numerous instances of repurchase are recorded in the York County Registry of 
Deeds. 

9^4 Mass. Hist. Coll. vii. 346. 

^''The bearer was partner Tucker whom Cleeve employed for such unsavory political work until 
he had no further use for him. Vines arrested Tucker for delivering this letter, and bound him over 
for appearance at Saco, on account of his " abusive language," and in default he was imprisoned one 
night, but the next day gave his personal recognizance. Winthrop, Journal ii. 155 ; comp. 4 Mass. 
Hist. Coll. vii. 350. 



Qolonel Alexander RUjhy. 47 

plott to bring vs all into a distraction, and a mutiny, for he knowes 
that neither my selfe, nor any other of Sir Fferdinando Gorges 
Comissioners, hauc power to try his title eitlier of land or power 
and authority for goverment here, without his authority soe to 
doe, neither doe I beleiue that your worship and the rest of your 
honored Court will meddle with any tryall of this nature."''^ 

In the summer of 1644, after his disastrous campaign at Lathom 
House, Colonel Rigby retired from the public gaze and parliament- 
ary strife, and we are told that he " imploys much time & expends 
considerable sums of money in furthering & promoting plantations 
there «S: he drew up severall constitutions for the well governing of 
the Inhabitants of [the] s^ Province [of Lygonia] which were about 
the 30th July, 1644 confirmed by the Earle of Warwick & others 
the Commissioners appointed by Parliament for Foreign Plan- 
tations." '« 

The recruits which each leader mustered to his standard were 
naturally drawn from certain geographical sections, and Cleeve's 
supporters were almost wholly composed of residents of Casco, 
although he pretended that his authority extended to Cape Porpus. 
Vines had the support of the leading men in Saco, Scarboro, and 

*" Letter to Winthrop 29 Jany 1643-4 in 4 Mass. Hist. Coll. vii. 350. The disputed matter 
could have been settled amicably, without doubt, if any other man than Cleeve had power to 
negotiate ; for Gorges was ever anxious to promote peaceful colonization at any sacrifice. Deputy- 
Governor Vines voices this well-known sentiment in a letter, dated 9 Jan., 1643, to Gov. John Win- 
throp of Massachusetts. After acknowledging the title of Rigby to the soil, but not the jurisdiction 
of it, he says: "Vet T did ever and doe intend whensoever Mr. Rigby shall send over people to lett 
them settle peaceably, to ayde and assist them to the best of my power, without questioning of 
meum et tiium ; ffor this I know, if Sir P'ferdinando Gorges and Mr. Rigby meete, all matters will 
be quietly ended, if there be no incendiaries here " (4 Mass. Hist. Coll. vii. 346). The Ic.iding men 
of both parties were ever ready to acknowledge the high character of Rigby, as appears by their let- 
ters; but all the difficulty arose from the worthlessness of his agent. 

** Rigby Mss. Pejepscot Papers 8 a. Cleeve in a letter to Winthrop i May, 1647, speaks of our 
"confirmed constitutions." (4 Mass. Hist. Coll. vii. 376.) 



48 Colonel Alexander Highy. 

the settlements westward to the Piscataqua, and even in Casco 
itself he was efficiently aided by Arthur Mackworth and some oth- 
ers, who stood up manfully for the ancient government of Gorges. 
Mackworth's opposition so exasperated Cleeve that it seems proba- 
ble that he intended to resort to personal violence, or in some way 
to place him or his property in jeopardy, and the General court 
of the Gorges government formally pledged to Mackworth and his 
associates protection to themselves and their estates from injury 
at the hands of Cleeve and his confederates.^^ In the adjoining 
town of Scarboro the leading opponent of Cleeve w^as Rev. Robert 
Jordan, whom he designates as "a minister of antichrist," and a 
" prelatticall counsellar," when venting his feelings to Winthrop,^°° 
while another townsman of Scarboro, Henry Jocelyn, was also found 
in the opposition to the new Deputy President. Thus far not much 
had been accomplished by the Rigby government except among 
the sparse settlements of Casco bay, and affairs drifted along in 
uncertainty through 1643 ^.nd 1644, being somewhat enlivened by 
an attempt of Cleeve to have Vines and Edward Godfrey tried by 
a Parliamentary commission composed of Winthrop and others, 
which he procured by petition through the influence of Rigby, but 
it came to naught for the present.^^^ Knowing the unscrupulous 
character of Cleeve we shall not be surprised to learn that in his 
desperation he had forged the names of nine planters as signers of 
the petition and charges against Vines and Godfrey, but it was not 
till the fall of 1645 that it was definitely discovered, when these nine 

'^ York County Court Records, October, 1645. 

10° Letter, Cleeve to Winthrop, 27 Feb. 1643-4 (4 Mass. Hist. Coll. vii. 363-5). As an evidence that 
this question could not be considered on its legal merits, we find Cleeve in this letter inciting the 
religious and political prejudices of Winthrop against Jordan by reporting that the pugnacious Scar- 
boro minister was opposed to the Parliamentary party in England, and the Puritans in this country. 

101 Letter, Cleeve to Winthrop, 2 February, 1643-4. The commissioners named were as far as 
known Winthrop, Mackworth and Boad. 



Colonel Alexander lilcjhy. 49 

persons went into court and testified under oath that they never 
saw nor heard of the petition and charges, and "could not testify 
any such things as are exhibited in the said petition."^"'" Parson 
Jenner asked Cleeve why he put the names of these men to the doc- 
ument without their knowledge, and the forger confessed naively, as 
if convinced as well of the credulity of his religious friend as of his 
dupes elsewhere, that "the Parliament bid him doe it"! Owing to 
the conflict of authority nothing was done to the forger, who was 
still busy plotting to destroy the Gorges authority. Rigby was evi- 
dently becoming impatient, and in the spring of 1645 ^vrote to 
Cleeve "to proceed in the government of Ligonia," and once more 
Winthrop and the Massachusetts people were importuned to write 
to Vines "to deter them from their illegal proceedings, and a letter 
to our people of Ligonia to advise and encourage them."'"^ This 
mournful appeal produced no results, and the Gorges administra- 
tion proceeded to elect Vines as Deputy-Governor, with the succes- 
sion to Henry Jocelyn if the former should leave the province. 
This contingency soon occurred, and Vines, probably weary of the 
long and profitless strife which retarded the material interests and 
prosperity of Maine so seriously, emigrated to Barbadoes, and 

^^^ The names of the planters were Henry Watts, John Wilkinson, Andrew Alger, Arthur M.ick- 
worth, William Hammond, John West, Robert Wadleigh, Peter Wearc and Francis Rohinson. 
Vines wrote to Winthrop 4 August, 1645, about this affair, and explains tlic methods of Cleeve : 
" I likewise thinke I had some hard measure in the commission that came from the Parliament, for 
that I did write to you that Mr, Hen: Boade, and Mr. Mackworth (who were 2 of the comissiuncrs) 
might haue had the Commission to haue examined the most parte of the peticioners against me : it 
was refused, and I never had answere of my letter : but you sent a note vndcr your hand to Mr. 
Mackworth, to examine such as Qeues should bring vnlo him, which he refusing to dtic without the 
commission, then CIciucs giues 2 men ther oaths that all was true contayncd in a paper, there pre- 
sented ready written, which paper was sent to yourselfe, to be retourncd to Tarliament, to answcare 
the Interrogatories that were against me. That CIciucs hath thus proceeded against me I can 
prove by Mr. Arthur Mackworth his oath." [4 Mass. Hist. Coll. vii. 3523.] 

i^'Letter, 3 July 1645 (4 Mass. Hist. Coll. vii. 366-7). Clccve sent Rigby's letter to Winthrop 
enclosed in his that he might "see how the Parliament approves of his proceeding." 



50 Colonel Alexander Righy. 



Jocelyn assumed his office. The new Deputy-Governor was as res- 
olute in his opposition to the pretensions of Cleeve as his predeces- 
sor, and under his lead in general assembly, at the Quarter Ses- 
sions, late in 1645, it was voted "forthwith to apprehend Cleaues & 
Tuckar & to subdue the rest vnto their obedience," and to accom- 
plish that end they "fitted them selues with bilbowes & ordained 
Captain Bonython Colonel General" of their forces.^*^^ At the 
news of this action Cleeve at once turned to Winthrop in great 
trepidation, and summoning his counsellors, Royall, Tucker and 
Purchas, sent a letter full of the tenderest pathos to thei*r Boston 
friends. He professed that they would all be murdered unless help 
was vouchsafed, and begged that the Massachusetts magistrates 
would send "some of your men to stand by vs."^*^^ Cleeve had 
called his assembly to meet at Casco the last day of March, 1646, 
and at this meeting it was expected by Cleeve that the bloodthirsty 
militia in the service of the Gorges officials would "make this the 
beginning of a sivill warre, which they intend," he wrote to Win- 

l°*4 Mass. Hist, Coll, vii. 357. Letter of Jenner to Winthrop, 28 Mch, 1645-6. 

^"^4 Mass. Hist. Coll. vii. 371-373. Cleeve in this letter gives some interesting items concerning 
the proceedings of the Gorges officials: "The heads of this league are Mr. Henry Jocelyn, Mr. 
Arthur Mackworth, & Ffrances Robinson, which Mr. Mackworth did wHlingly submit to Mr. Rig- 
byes authority formerly, and did subscribe to his constitucions, & received a Commission from him 
to be an Assistant & acted by it till he was drawne away by the perswasion of Mr. Vines, and Mr. 
Jorden, (one vnworthily called a minister of Christ). From these two men all this evill doth prin- 
cipally flowe, for though Mr. Vines be now gone, yet he hath presumed to depute Mr. Jocelyn in 
his stead, although he never had any Commission soe to doe; yet he, by the councell of Mr. Jor- 
den, hath taken vpon him, as a lawful Magistrate to come into Casco Bay & hath gone from house 
to house, being accompaned with Ffrances Robinson & Arthur Mackworth & have discourraged the 
people of Ligonia, & drawne them offe, some by fraude & some by force, from theire subjection to 
Mr. Rigbys lawfull authority ; contrary to their oathes freely and willingly taken, a true coppy whereof 
is herewith sent. And have alsoe presumed to take deposicions of severall people to accuse some 
of vs falsely and slanderously with treason & other crimes, whereof we are innocent ; intending 
vpon those grounds to deale with vs at theire pleasure, and thus we are all destined by them vnto 
destruction, if the Lord prevent not their wicked plotts against vs." 



Colonel Alexaiider R'trjhy. 61 

throp, "to blowe abroad into all parts of this land, & give it out 
there be many amongst you & elsewhere, that doe but looke for an 
opportunity to declare themselves cavileers &: for the king, as if you 
or wee were the Kings enimies." But the wise Governor of Mas- 
sachusetts had heard Cleeve cry "wolf" many times before, and he 
resolved to let the carnage proceed, contenting himself with send- 
ing instead of troops a letter addressed to both factions. "^*'' The 
fatal day arrived. "Mr. Jocelyne & his company came armed with 
gunes & swords, or both : Mr. Cleeve & his company vnarmed," 
writes Rev. Thomas Jenner, from whose letter, describing the 
events of the day, we shall quote. " After sermon was ended, Mr. 
Joselyne & his company separated themselves about a furlong from 
Mr. Cleeve & his company." The first exchange of firing consisted 
of a paper pellet. "They sent vnto Mr. Cleeve," says Jenner, "a 
demand in writing (with all their hands subscribed,) to have a sight 
of his originals, promising a safe returne. After some hesitaton & 
demur, Mr. Cleeve, vpon condition they would come together into 
one place, promised to gratifie them. The which being publickely 
read and scanned," they separated for the day, with no casualties, 
" and the next morneing Mr. Jocelyne & his company deliuered vnto 
Mr. Cleeve in writinge, with all their hands subscribed, a Protest 
against Mr. Righbies authority of gouernment, that is to say, in any 
part of that bound or tract of land whicli Mr. Cleeve doth chal- 
lenge by vertue of his Patent, viz., from Sacadehock to Cape Por- 

'"'Winlhrop »ays in this reply: "the differences grewe vpon extent of some Patents & right of 
Jurisdicli(jn wherein Mr. Kigby & others in E(nglan(l) are interested & Icttres have been sent to 
them from both partyes, & answer is expected by the first return, thcrevpon we have thought it ex- 
pedient to perswade you bothe to forbeare any further contention in the meanc tyme, & have written 
to Mr. Jocelin &c to that ende, who having desired our advice, we may presume they will observe 
the same, & will not attempt any acts of hostility against you ; and we doubt not but you wilbe per- 
swadcd to the same; which we judge will conduce most to Mr. Rigbys right, and your owne & your 
neighbours peace." |Winthrop Papers.] 



62 .Colonel Alexander Righy. 

pus. They furthermore required and in joined Mr. Cleave & his 
company to submit themselues vnto the authority & gouernment 
derived from Sir Fferdinando Gorges, & that for the future they 
addresse themselues vnto their Courts. Lastly they demanded of 
Mr. Cleeve a friendly triall concerneing the bounds afore sayd, ffor 
Mr. Jocelyne would that Mr. Cleeve his terminus a quo should 
begin 60 miles vp chenebec River, because the Patent saith it must 
be nere two Hands which are about 60 miles from the sea. Ffor 
answer to it the Patent also saith, the tract of land of 40 miles 
square must be on the south side of Sacadehock River." 

As a result of the offer of Joscelyn and his associates to submit 
the case to the arbitration of the Massachusetts magistrates, " Mr. 
Cleeve readily accepted their offer of a triall at Boston," and both 
principals bound themselves in a bond of ^500 to personally appear 
at Boston at the May term of the General Court, "then & ther to 
impleade each other."^*^^ Thus ended the "sivill warre" which 
Cleeve predicted would kindle all the "cavileers" of New England, 
and when Winthrop read Jenner's account of the meeting of the 
sanguinary factions he must have been reminded of the doughty 
King of Yvetot, of whom it was said : 

*' Each year he called his fighting men, 
And marched a league from home, and then 
Marched back again," 

They met in Boston at the appointed time. George Cleeve and 
Richard Tucker appeared for Rigby, while Henry Joscelyn and 

i°"4 Mass. Hist. Coll. vii. 359-361. Letter dated 6 April, 1646. "I must needs acknowledge to 
their high commendation, that both Mr. Jocelyne & Mr. Cleeve carried on the interaction very 
friendly, like men of wisdome & prudence, not giueing one misbeholding word each together, such 
was the power of Gods Holy Word aweing cheir hearts. Your letters were also very valide & 
gratefully accepted on both parties. Thus after two or three dales agitation, each man departed 
very peaceably to his owne home." 



Colonel Alexander JRujhy. 63 

Francis Robinson ^^^ were counsel for Gorcres. " Some of the mag:- 
istrates," writes Winthrop, "advised not to intermeddle in it, seeing 
it was not within our jurisdiction, and that the agents had no com- 
mission to bind the interest of the gentlemen in England. Others 
(and the most) thought fit to give them a trial both for that it was a 
usual practice in Europe for two states being at odds to make a 
third judge between them, and though the principal parties could 
not be bound by any sentence of this court, (for having no jurisdic- 
tion, we had no coercion, and therefore whatever we should con- 
clude was but advice,) yet it might settle peace for the present."'*^ 
They presented their documentary evidences, but the contradictory 
character of the testimony "so perplexed the jury as they could 
find for neither, but gave in a non liquet^ and urged them to await 
the decision of the authorities in England.""" 

The distractions of the real Civil war in England served to delay 
a settlement of this question for nine months more, but in March, 
1647, the Earl of Warwick and the Commissioners for Foreign 
Plantations, having heard the case stated by Colonel Rigby and 
John Gorges, heir of Sir Ferdinando, gave judgment 27 March, in 
favor of Rigby, to the full extent of his claims."^ The long fight 

1* Winthrop says " Mr. Roberts," but I think it must be an error for Robinson, because Francis 
Robinson was one of the "iieads" of the Gorges "league," according to Clccve. 

1'^ Winthrop, Journal ii. 257. 

"'' Ibid. " They persuaded the parties to live in peace, etc., till the matter might be determined 
by authority out of England." 

1" Rigby Mss. Pcjepscot Papers 8 a. By this decision the Kcnnebunk River was made the divid- 
ing line of Lygonia and Maine, " which brought it to the seaside; whereas the words of the grant 
laid it 20 miles" (Ilubl^ard, 510). The old province of Gorges was now bisected, and but three 
settlements were left to the lord-proprietor, who had been a laborer in the work of colonization for 
forty years. Most unwelcome of all, it brought Jocclyn of Ulack Point, and, Jordan of Sjiurwink, 
all officials and jjartisans of Gorges, within the jurisdiction of Clccvcs. Jocclyn and Jordan re- 
mained in the |)rovince to fight their ancient enemy till his death in 16O2. The provincial limits as 
then dtfiiud now include the whole of Cumberland and portions of York, Oxford, Androscoggin, 



54 Colonel Alexander Righy. 

was ended, and the vanquished submitted with as good grace as 
they could. Cleeve was now chief magistrate of the territory be- 
tween the Sagadahoc and Cape Porpus rivers, and proceeded to put 
his province in working order. The remainder of the old Province 
of Maine left to Gorges was reorganized, and two years later formed 
itself into an independent government after the death of the aged 
lord proprietor. 

The Province of Lygonia was now an accomplished fact, de jure 
et de facto, and henceforth quiet and order once more prevailed in 
Maine. It will not be profitable to follow the fortunes of this prov- 
ince further, for the evidences of its continuity are not available, 
and the few extant documentary witnesses of its existence have been 
preserved by the vigilance of private interests rather than the care 
of public officials. A history of it would be a history of Eastern 
Maine. The old opponents of Cleeve accepted the inevitable, and 
in 1648 we find Jocelyn and Jordan signing official documents with 
Cleeve as Assistants of the Province of Lygonia. As a province 
it was quietly performing its legitimate functions of government for 
a small population of perhaps a thousand souls from the settlements 
of its boundaries in 1647 to the death of Baron Rigby three years 
later. All the public business was transacted by a General Assem- 
bly, and the Deputy-President attended to the transfers and leases 
of property, collection of rents, etc., in the name of Colonel Alex- 
ander Rigby, President and Proprietor. 

The decease of Rigby in August, 1650, was the occasion of an 
attempt on the part of some of the principal planters to form an 

and Sagadahoc counties, the chief city of the State, Portland, three large cities, and perhaps fifty 
towns and villages containing a population of about 100,000 persons. It would include the oldest 
and wealthiest portion of the State of Maine. There was a good deal of Puritan politics in this 
decision, as Winthrop considered it a " favorable interpretation " of the terms of the patent. [Jour- 
nal ii. 320.] 



Colonel Alexander Rlghy. 55 

independent government, as the freemen of the Province of Maine 
had ah-eady done in July, 1649, after the death of Gorges, the dis- 
tance from England and the distraction of the times being favora- 
ble to such an undertaking. This was undoubtedly a scheme to 
overthrow Cleeve, as he was never a popular man, and the leaders 
of the movement were always known to be his avowed enemies. 
The Deputy-President repaired to England, informed the heir to 
the title of the state of affairs, and under date of 19 July, 1652, 
Edward Rigby, loyal as his father to Cleeve, writes from London 
tQ the refractory officers in the following severe terms : 

" Heartily, Gentlemen, do I regret to learn, that my father's kind- 
ness and generosity towards you, and his confidence in your probity, 
should be repaid in a manner so entirely prejudicial to his interests 
and mine. Again let me tell you, that if after receiving this notice 
you do not lay aside your private and secret combinations, and 
abstain from unlawful measures, and unanimously join with me, my 
deputy, and other officers in the plans devised to promote the peace 
and good of the Province, I shall adopt and pursue such a course 
towards you, as will enforce submission, and effectually rectify all 
your misdeeds and wrongs." 

Indeed it would seem that Edward Rigby himself had some 
intentions of crossing the Atlantic in an official capacity under the 
patronage of the Lord Protector Cromwell, for Roger Williams, 
under date of 15 February, 1654, wrote to John Winthrop, jun.. 
Governor of Connecticut, that "we haue a sound of a (icn : Gov- 
ernor [of New England], & that Baron Rigby his son is the man.""'- 

The rumor was not, however, confirmed by his presence. In Jan- 
uary, 1653, he was bringing his troubles in connection with his 
coh^ny before the Council of State."^ At length the Council lis- 

"^4 Mass. Hist. Coll. vi. 260. "'Proceeding of Council of State, Calendar pp. Sj, 92. 



56 Colonel Alexander Righy. 

tened to the complaint of his wrongs. Rigby wished the Council 
to send for the persons complained of, or to have a commission 
issued for hearing the case there. The Council thought the latter 
course should be pursued, and Rigby was to be asked to give in the 
names of some persons, out of whom the Council might choose 
commissioners."* The last that we hear of Edward Rigby and 
Lygonia is in a scrap of manuscript dated 19 April, 1655, in which 
he prays for the settlement of his plantation in New England, and 
the petition was referred to the Committee for Plantations, 1 1 Jan., 
1655-6,"'^ whence it never emerged probably, as the tide of popular 
favor was then beginning to turn from the Commonwealth to the 
exiled monarch across the straits of Dover. 

This ends our knovv ledge of the history of the province. The 
close of its life is thus summed up by a local annalist : " How the 
government was conducted after this we have no means of ascer- 
taining ; Cleeve did not return until after February 20, 1653; and 
although the majority of the inhabitants of Cape Porpus and Saco 
submitted to the jurisdiction of Massachusetts in 1652, he con- 
trived to keep up some show of power in the eastern part of the 
province until the submission of the remaining inhabitants in 1658." 
Thus after a turbulent infancy of three years and an almost pulse- 
less existence of thirteen years, the Province of Lygonia, by sub- 
mission of its freemen 13 July, 1658, to the authority of the Prov- 
ince of Massachusetts, completed its short but interesting career."*' 

"Mbid, p. 129. 

11* Colonial Papers in Public Record office. The original petition is not on file, only the entry of 
its receipt remaining in a volume of similar notes. The Petition states that Lygonia was granted by 
patent to his father by the late King. 

11^ In 1652 Edward Rigby joined with the heirs of Gorges and other patentees of Maine and New 
Hampshire, in a petition to the Rump Parliament, for relief from the usurpation of Massachusetts, 
but nothing came of it (Colonial Papers, xiij. 79). 



Colonel Alexander H'ti)l>y- 57 



1 1 Iiad been decreed an existence by a sj^ccious interpretation of its 
charter, and in turn it gave way to another similar illogical construc- 
tion of the iri'ant to Massachusetts, who claimed the entire Province 
of Maine, Gorges and Rigby combined, and their i)oint was carried 
by persistent plotting within and without."' 

""The last that we hear of the Rigby claim is in i6S6, when George Turfrey, as attorney for Kd- 
ward Rigby, grandson of the colonel, filed a claim in behalf of the heirs in the secretary's office, 
and the petition is now among the Mss. of the Maine Historical Society, numbered 8 A filed with 
the Pejepscot Papers. 



